


I Don't Give A Damn About Your Reputation

by sociallyawkward_fics



Series: Reputation Series [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: (very briefly i swear), Abusive Family, Abusive Parents, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Anxiety, Baking, Boys Kissing, Bullying, Christmas, Christmas Cookies, Christmas Eve, Christmas Presents, Cookies, Cute, Depression, First Kiss, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Hiatus, Homophobia, Insomnia, Kissing, M/M, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, New Years, On Hiatus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pet Names, References to Depression, Sequel, Smoking, i am half asleep and can't remember what my own fic is about so i'll update these later lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2020-10-11 23:21:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 47,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20554355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sociallyawkward_fics/pseuds/sociallyawkward_fics
Summary: While Virgil and Roman finally coming together wasn't easy, staying together will be even harder. There are too many odds stacked against them. Their reputations, their families, practically the entire school. Virgil just hopes his own cheesy romance story has a happy ending, too.(YOU HAVE TO READ THE PREVIOUS FIC TO UNDERSTAND THIS ONE)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I find it hilarious how I, a person who doesn't swear at all, swears so much when writing characters and creates a work title that has a swear in it
> 
> ALSO IMPORTANT TO READ CUZ LOTS OF YOU I'M SURE SKIP THE AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is basically a rewritten version of the LAST chapter from Bad Reputation!
> 
> But hey, we're back! In this universe! I have been working on this work for MONTHS and I hope y'all enjoy this first chapter! I already have the next two fully written (but unedited so far) so that we don't have another When Words Fail fiasco lol.
> 
> I will have an update schedule for this fic! Not sure if I've done that since my FIRST chaptered fic for the Supernatural fandom lol. I'll be updating every other Saturday. It's a long wait, I know, but the chapters for this fic tend to be VERY long and it gives me time to write and edit them and still have enough prewritten chapters to have a backlog of them. 
> 
> My beta and I did go over this at least once each, but also I was so excited that we could've missed something so if we did let me know and I'll try to fix that!

Virgil woke up the next morning to over a dozen messages from Roman Prince, everything from asking if he got home safe, to asking if Virgil was upset with him, to apologies, though he wouldn’t even know what he was apologizing for.

Virgil didn’t even know what he should be apologizing for. Or if he should be apologizing in the first place.

Last night had felt like a dream, walking and talking with his very own Prince Charming, waltzing under the fairy lights like he was in his very own romance movie. A movie with a happy ending.

But this was real life. And people like Virgil didn’t get happy endings.

And the end of last night had been such a  _ mess _ . Virgil was certain Roman Prince wouldn’t want anything to do with him in the morning. And Virgil so wished he was right. It would be so much easier that way.

As the day went on, more and more texts came in from Roman Prince, each one more frantic than the last. Until finally:

** _RP:_ ** _ Please, what did I do wrong? _

Virgil broke. His eyes filled with frustrated tears as he shoved the edge of his phone into his forehead.

** _V:_ ** _ Unfortunately for me? Nothing _

** _V:_ ** _ I won’t be the one to ruin you _

The texts upped in frequency, and Virgil regretted saying anything at all. Maybe he should change his number.

He flopped backwards on his lumpy mattress. Somewhere between making it to the dance and making it back to the house, Virgil had lost all his nerve to reveal himself to Roman Prince.

Roman Prince wasn’t just an obnoxious popular jock. He was  _ the _ obnoxious popular jock. He was the school’s Golden Boy. The exact opposite of where Virgil stood in the school’s social standing.

The most loved and most hated people in the school start dating? Not only that, but a queer relationship? What are the odds of it working out? Of it ending well? And what repercussions would it have for them?

Virgil becomes more hated than before for sullying the school’s beloved Golden Boy. The bullying worsens, and probably spreads to Logan, too, seeing as they’re a package deal. Damien finds out he’s gay and finally throws him out on the streets. The regulars at The Insomniac no longer trust Virgil because he’s dating one of those jocks that target them so often and Maisey is forced to fire him. Virgil starves to death in an alleyway and no one cares.

Roman Prince loses all popularity in an instant, suddenly gaining the same social status as Virgil and Logan. He starts getting bullied by the very people he was teammates with. He loses his spot on the sports teams, his skill no longer meaning anything now that he’s a nobody. He loses his chance at getting any sports scholarships and comes to hate Virgil.

Virgil rolled over and buried his face in his thin, flat pillow and let out a long, drawn-out groan.

There was no way in hell he was ever telling Roman Prince.

Virgil laid there a while longer, feeling sorry for himself, before forcing himself to get up, throw on his hoodie and jeans, and emerge from his room. Just like he’d hoped, everyone else was still asleep from their late nights (if they came home at all, which Virgil suspected Kameron hadn’t).

Making sure his keys were in his pocket, Virgil sneaked out the front door as quietly as he could and made his way to Logan’s house.

He can’t imagine how he must have looked when Mr. Boman opened the door. Last night’s makeup that he hadn’t taken off smudged and smeared from sleep and probably streaked from tears, clothes that hadn’t been washed in days, hair that he hadn’t even bothered to brush the bed head or gel out of.

But, like always, Mr. Boman greeted him with a broad smile.

“How are you this morning, Virgil?”

Virgil shrank into his hoodie a bit, figuring his appearance gave away enough about how he was doing. “I’m okay,” he lied. “How are you?”

“I’m doing just fine, thanks,” he replied, inviting Virgil in with a sweep of his arm.

“Is Logan up yet?” He asked.

“Knowing that boy, I’m sure he is,” Mr. Boman chuckled. “Why don’t you head on over to his room and check? I was just about to make some brunch, I’ll let you boys know when it’s done.”

“Thanks, Mr. Boman.”

He smiled that broad smile again. “Anytime, Virgil.”

Virgil made his way down the hall and knocked on Logan’s door, waiting to be granted permission before entering.

There was no answer.

“Logan?” Virgil called, knocking again.

There was a tired groan from inside and Virgil fought down a smile. He opened the door to find Logan sprawled out across his bed, blankets a mess, and glaring at Virgil through one open eye.

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty,” Virgil chuckled. “You actually slept in?”

“I was tired,” Logan grumbled and rolled over in bed.

Virgil sighed and slipped off his shoes. “Scooch over,” he said.

Logan did so with a put-out groan and Virgil slipped under the blankets and into the bed next to him. It was already comfortable warm from Logan’s sleep-warmed body, and Virgil relaxed into the mattress that was so much more comfortable than his own.

After a few minutes, Logan sighed and turned to face him again.

“So,” he started.

“So,” Virgil repeated hesitantly after a moment of silence.

Logan rolled his eyes. “ _ So _ ,” he said again, “did you talk to Roman last night or this morning? Clear things up?”

Virgil furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

Logan let out a drawn-out groan. He spoke slowly. “Did. You. Tell. Him. Who. You. Are?”

Virgil let out and incredulous laugh. “What?! Are you kidding me?”

Logan furrowed his brow. “I am confused. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“I guess it was.” Virgil sighed. “Now that I know how far up the food chain I was trying to bite, I’m not so sure.”

“Virgil…”

“Look, Logan, it’d be nice, but… People like me don’t exactly get their magical fairy tale endings, you know? It probably wouldn’t work out in the long run, anyway. We’re too different.”

Logan gave him a pitying look. “So that means you’re not even going to try for the chance that you’re wrong? That you guys could do it?”

Virgil gave him a bitter smile. “Saves me from more pain later. Saves us both.”

Logan looked like he wanted to argue, but Mr. Boman mercifully interrupted.

“Rise and shine, boys!” He called, cracking the door open. “Soups on!”

Logan groaned again, causing his dad to laugh.

“We’re coming,” he called back.

“Don’t take too long, it’ll get cold!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Logan mumbled, finally sitting up.

They had a quiet brunch, just him, Logan, and Mr. Boman, as Mrs. Boman had to work that Saturday. Mr. Boman had to leave quickly after eating his fill to head to work himself.

“So,” Logan started as he finished off his serving of eggs.

“So,” Virgil repeated again, “how many times today are you gonna start a conversation like that?”

Logan rolled his eyes. Again.

“So how many times today are you gonna do that?”

Logan glared.

Virgil smirked. “So how many ti--”

“Alright, I get it!” Logan burst out, though he was smiling. “I was gonna ask if we’re heading to the Insomniac today.”

Virgil popped the last piece of bacon in his mouth. “Probably,” he said. “I don’t have a shift, but it’s a good study spot and Maisey probably wants to interrogate us.

Logan snorted and tugged at his earlobe. “Sounds pleasant.”

After packing away the leftovers and throwing on some basic makeup, the two made their way to the coffee shop. Maisey immediately jumped them as soon as they walked in (and Virgil took note of the yellow button).

“So?!” They squealed as Virgil and Logan walked in.

Virgil rolled his eyes. “What is it with everyone starting conversations like that today?” He said, making his way back to their usual table.

Maisey rolled their eyes right back. “C’mon, V-dog! Spill!”

Virgil sighed and sat down heavily in his chair, the one with it’s back to the wall. “Nothing to spill.”

“I didn’t interrogate you last night because you were stressed about the step-douche, but you’re not getting out of it today, mister!” They plopped down in another one of the chairs surrounding the table, while Logan took the last one.

“They almost kissed,” Logan blurted out.

Virgil shot him a betrayed look. “Logan!”

Maisey gasped. “Only almost?”

Now Logan looked somewhat embarrassed. “I had to pull Virgil away before they finally got there.”

“What?! You couldn’t at least let them get a peck in first?!”

“It was already after midnight, you were waiting outside the venue! What was I supposed to do?”

Virgil laid his head on the table as his friends bickered overhead, holding back his comment that Logan did the right thing in the long run, anyway. In his pocket, his phone vibrated, just like it had been doing all day. He reluctantly pulled it out and checked.

_ 30 new messages from RP _

“V-dog?”

He was silent for a few moments as his phone screen slowly turned dark. “Romance Prince,” he finally said.

Maisey furrowed their brow. “What?”

Virgil looked into their eyes. “It’s Roman Prince.”

Their face went through a few conflicting expressions and emotions before settling on something neutral. “Okay,” they said slowly. “And how do we feel about that? Is he still the boy of our dreams?”

Virgil looked back down at the table, scratching his thumbnail against the grain of the wood. “I don’t know.” Then he lowered his voice further to add, “I’m not gonna tell him.”

Maisey leaned forward. “Wait, tell him? Tell him what? Did I hear that right?”

“Virgil never removed his mask.” Logan said hesitantly.

Maisey, someone who was  _ constantly _ in motion in some way or another, froze completely.

Virgil’s pulse skyrocketed.

They slowly turned to look at him again. “ _ What?! _ ” They whispered.

“He doesn’t know who I am,” Virgil said, almost too quiet to hear. “And I intend to keep it that way.”

“ _ Why _ ?”

“It wouldn’t work out.” Virgil shrugged. “Someone like him isn’t meant for someone like me.”

Maisey scowled. “Shouldn’t you let him make that decision? Virgil, that choice isn’t yours alone to make.”

Virgil shrugged again. “Saving us both from the heartache.”

They sighed and reached over for Virgil’s phone, still resting face-up on the table and vibrating every few minutes. They met his eyes, thumb hovering over the home button, waiting for permission.

Virgil hesitated for a moment before sighing and giving in, nodding. He habitually reached into his hoodie pocket, fingers searching out his worry stone.

His fingers found only fabric.

He tried the other pocket. Same result.

He kept his panic quiet, for now. He had probably just left it in his suit from the dance.

Maisey input his passcode with practiced ease (his phone was too old for those convenient fingerprint scanners) and started scrolling through the messages Roman Prince had been spamming his phone with since the formal.

“Virgil,” they said softly, “I think he does care. I  _ know _ he does, you can  _ tell _ .”

“I think he does, too,” Virgil said. “For now.”

Logan gave him a helpless look. “Virgil, please.”

Virgil dropped his head to the table again, his arms cushioning the fall.

“If I say that I’ll think about it,” he mumbled into his sleeves, “will you two drop it?”

“For now,” Maisey said.

“What did he say?” Logan muttered.

Maisey sighed, waving a dismissing hand. “Wanna make us some of your famous cinnamon-vanilla coffee since I apparently never make it right?” they asked teasingly, trying to lighten the mood.

Virgil gave a weak smile. “Sure.”

Going through the motions of making the coffee relaxed him, and the smell reminded him of his mom. 

The quiet mornings they would spend together in the kitchen almost everyday while she was still alive. The way she let him have little tastes of her coffee even though she warned him that it wasn’t good for him. Her gentle voice and guiding hands the morning she finally agreed to teach him to make it.

When he came back to the table, he was dealing with a lot of bittersweet emotions and was feeling very untalkative, so he quickly changed the subject.

“What about you, Lo?” He asked.

Logan furrowed his brow. “What about me?”

“What did you do at the dance after Prince and I ran off playing hookie?”

Logan tugged at one of his earlobes. “Nothing much, really,” he said, thought Virgil was only half listening, so caught up in his own head still. “I spent the night chatting with who I now assume to be Patton.”

Maisey dropped their head into their hands. “God, you two are hopeless.”

The bell above the door rang, and with it came a slew of new voicers filling the quiet cafe, signaling the beginning of the afternoon rush.

Maisey sighed and gave them a tight smile. “Catch you later, boys,” they said and made their way to the front to greet the new customers.

Logan and Virgil stayed in the Insomniac for a couple more hours, not talking much, but enjoying the atmosphere of one of the few places they actually felt welcome.

Eventually, they made their way home, just in case Damien was demanding Virgil cook for him and his kids that night. They gave a quick wave to Maisey before getting on the bus home, remaining silent the whole time.

As they got off the bus and began heading their separate ways, Logan reached out and grabbed his arm.

“You’ll think about it?” He asked.

It took Virgil a moment to understand what Logan was talking about, but then he remembered their conversation about Roman Prince. He sighed. “ _ Think _ . Nothing more.”

Logan gave him a tired smile. “I guess that’s fine for now.”

Virgil snorted and waved goodbye, making his way back to the Beste’s.

“I won’t bother asking where you’ve been,” Damien said as Virgil walked through

“I-I’m sorry, sir,” Virgil choked out through his rapidly closing throat.

“I thought we had an agreement that all your chores had to be finished before going out.”

“Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir.”

Before Damien could continue on with whatever punishment he saw fit for Virgil’s obviously unforgivable actions, tires were squealing outside and Kameron’s car swerved into the driveway. Damien stood, brow furrowed, as she and Christian busted through the door.

“Daddy, look!” She screeched, throwing her phone at him.

Damien fumbled as he caught it, which was so unlike the man he appeared to be just seconds ago that Virgil had to choke back a hysterical laugh. Damien examined the screen for a few moments, humming, before setting the phone down on the table and turning to Kameron.

“And how does this help us, Sweetheart?” He asked.

Virgil subtly tilted his head to read the phone screen from his vantage point and had to use all of his willpower to keep his reaction inside.

On Kameron’s phone was a picture of  _ Virgil _ . 

It was obviously taken at the dance the previous night, as he was in the suit that Jason and Bill had made him, his mask hiding his identity. It must have been taken in the hotel gardens, from the greenery around him. The moonlight illuminated his face, which was tilted skyward, a soft smile adorning his features that Virgil didn’t even recognize as his own expression.

His eyes darted lower on the screen to find an instagram caption. 

** _yourprincecharming: _ ** _ Searching for Cinderella. _

“C’mon, Daddy! All it takes is a little lie or two and Roman Prince could be  _ all _ mine!” Kameron said with a cutting grin, picking her phone back up. “The star quarterback  _ and _ rich? Daddy, it’s  _ perfect _ !”

Virgil felt an intense protectiveness and anger bubbling up inside him. He tried to force it back down and not let it show on his face or in his body language.

Damien scowled. “I’m not so sure it’s a good idea anymore, Sweetheart. Look at his choice of partners.”

Virgil began slowly backing out of the room.

Kameron rolled her eyes. “Just a phase, Daddy, I’m sure. Plus, once he realizes he’s in love with me, he’ll forget all about whoever that idiot is.”

Virgil made it out of the room and hid behind the wall. He didn’t know why he was staying instead of making his escape. It’s not like he should care what happens to Roman Prince anymore. But there was no harm in knowing what Kameron was planning, right?

“Look,” she said. “All I have to do is pretend it was Christian covering for me because I was too nervous! It’s foolproof!”

Virgil held back a bitter snort as he finally made his way to the basement. Kameron would have no luck with that plan, she had no background knowledge of their relationship. And how did she think she would explain how Christian was pretending to be her? A bluetooth speaker in his ear that no one noticed?

But right now, Virgil had bigger things to worry about.

Like the fact that Roman Prince just outed himself to who knows how many people (at least the whole school, gossip travels fast, not to mention all his followers that don’t attend the school) because he wanted to find Virgil.

The minute he got downstairs, Virgil yanked his room dividers shut, flopped on the bed, and whipped out his barely-functioning smartphone. He waited an eternity while Instagram downloaded and went through the steps of making an account (“emoartist” was already taken so he shoved “nightmare” at the end. It was abysmal, but so was he, and he could always change it later).

He went to Roman Prince’s profile (very careful not to follow it, just in case), ignored the rest of his posts, and immediately clicked on the one of himself. He stared at it for far longer than he should have, trying to decide what to do, or if he was even going to do anything.

By the time he fell into a fitful sleep, phone resting on his chest, he still hadn’t come to a decision.

Sunday passed slowly, Virgil moving on autopilot to clean the house to appease Damien. He was forced to cook and clean the whole day while barely having a moment to feed himself.

The complete opposite of that, the next few days passed in a blur. Virgil, once again moving on autopilot, didn’t even remember most of what he did during those days.

With Logan around he didn’t have much trouble keeping up with school, but he wasn’t fully present. His conversations were stilted, movements uncertain. Maisey probably threatened to send him home from work multiple times, not that Virgil remembered it.

He only snapped out of it at the end of the week.

Virgil and Logan had gone home separately that day, as Virgil had work and Logan wanted to get a headstart on an assignment that he needed his computer for. That day, Maisey had made good on their threat to send Virgil home from his shift early. He decided to head to Logan’s for some joint studying and his first decent meal in who knew how long.

Only, when he knocked and rang the doorbell repeatedly, no one answered.

With Mr. and Mrs. Boman still being at work, it somewhat made sense, but Logan himself still should have been home. Where would he have vanished to?

Then Virgil smelled it.

Cigarette smoke.

And his stomach dropped.

Feeling more alert than he had in days, Virgil made his way around the house and hopped the fence into Logan’s backyard.

Logan himself was sitting on the grass, back to the fence on the opposite side of the yard, smoking. Virgil made his way over and flopped down next to him, trying to ignore the awful smell and feel of second-hand smoke entering his lungs. They sat in silence for several minutes before Virgil finally spoke up.

“Though you quit,” Virgil said awkwardly.

Logan sighed heavily, smoke trailing from his lips. “Thought I did, too.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“Wish I knew.”

Virgil reached over and plucked the pack of cigarettes from Logan’s shirt pocket. He sighed in relief when he saw that the one between Logan’s lips was the only one missing.

“What’s going on, Specs?” Virgil asked gently.

Logan sighed out another stream of smoke and stubbed out the half-used cigarette in the damp grass next to him.

“Virgil,” he said, “I have not had a crush since elementary school.”

Virgil waited for him to elaborate, but after a minute passed and nothing more came, Virgil spoke up again. “Okay…?”

“I know that I am asexual. I have known for years. But romantic orientations are so  _ confusing _ , Virge. I mean, how am I meant to figure this out? How do people figure this out?!” Logan ran a shaky hand through his hair, nails digging into his scalp.

Virgil reached up and grabbed his hand before he could do any real damage. “Lo…” he whispered.

“I mean, how in the  _ hell _ did you realize you were demi and gay? How do I tell romantic feelings from platonic? What if I end up falling for someone when I’m not even sure I want a romance?”

Virgil reached over and grabbed his other hand. “ _ Logan _ ,” he said, desperately needing his friend to hear him. “I wish I knew how to help. Ace and aro spectrums are  _ so _ confusing, I’m still not even one-hundred-percent sure I’m demi. Plus, sexuality is fluid. It’s changing all the time. You could identify as one thing now and something completely different a few years from now.”

“What if,” Logan whispered, almost as if he was afraid to say it out loud, “I thought I might harbor romantic feelings for someone. Should I pursue it? Would it bring joy? Or just needless distraction and difficulty?” Logan tugged at his earlobe.

Virgil felt like he had been hit in the face with a truck. How had he not seen it before?

When Virgil made the joke about Maisey wanting to interrogate them about the dance, he did that tick. When Logan brought up spending his entire time at the dance with Patton, he did that tick. Throughout the week whenever Patton was near or someone mentioned the dance, he did that tick.

Virgil knew Logan. Tugging his earlobe was one of the few signs he would still give. The one tick he couldn’t get rid of.

He was just too caught up in his own drama to notice.

“Shit,” Virgil said, staring off into space. “I’m such a dumbass.”

Logan sat up straighter, caught off guard. “What?”

“Logan, I am so sorry,” Virgil said, putting all the conviction he could into his voice. “I was so caught up in myself and my own issues that I didn’t even notice you struggling. I was such a shit friend and I’m so, so sorry.”

Logan relaxed and gave him a tired smile. “One, it’s not as bad as you’re making it out to be. Two, of course I forgive you. And three, I never blamed you in the first place. You’ve had a lot going on.”

“Gosh, Maisey was right,” Virgil moaned, rubbing the heels of his hands into his eyes. “We are absolute disasters.”

Logan let out a snort.

“So,” Virgil said, a sly grin stretching across his face, “Patton, huh?”

Logan made a mortified noise somewhere in his throat, and Virgil knew he had to be blushing under all that foundation.

“I should have never said anything,” Logan huffed.

Virgil laughed and bumped their shoulders together. “Hey, he’d be an absolute fool not to like you, too.”

Logan smiled. “Come on,” he said, standing and brushing the grass off his jeans, “let’s get this smoke smell off us before my parents get home.”

Virgil stood as well, making sure to grab the pack of cigarettes and the half-smoked one off the grass as he went. “Should probably dispose of the evidence while we’re at it.”

“Probably a good plan,” Logan said.

They hopped the fence to get into the back alley and tossed the cigarettes in the dumpster behind Logan’s house. Throwing them away inside risked them being found. This way they could at least lie and say it was some creep in the alleyway using their dumpster.

“Sooo,” Virgil said, drawing out the word, stepping in front of Logan and walking backwards through the backdoor to the house. “You gonna go for it?”

Logan furrowed his brow. “Go for what?”

Virgil grinned. “Patton Havard.”

Logan snorted. “I don’t know, are you going to go for Roman Prince?”

Virgil’s smile immediately fell and he stopped walking, causing Logan to almost trip over him. “Oh shit, I didn’t tell you.”

Logan gave him a confused look as he maneuvered around him. “Tell me what?”

Virgil pulled out his phone and pulled up the instagram post featuring him (doing his best to ignore the rest of the posts on the page, he refused to social media stalk Roman Prince) as they walked through the house and handed his phone to Logan, who stopped in his tracks.

“Virgil,” Logan said, eyes wide as he stared at the phone. “He  _ outed _ himself for you.”

Virgil nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

Then Logan looked up, understanding dawning on his face. “This is why everyone’s been acting so weird lately.”

Virgil cocked his head. “What?”

Logan looked apologetic for a moment. “Sorry, you have been pretty checked out all week, I guess you didn’t notice. Some of the jocks have been putting a weird distance between themselves and their ‘Golden Boy,’  _ and _ loads of girls have had guys pretend they went to the dance with Roman  _ for _ them.”

Just like Kameron had been planning. Idiots thought alike, Virgil supposed.

Logan backed out of the post of Virgil and clicked through a few more before landing on a picture that was just a solid purple square. The caption read:

** _yourprincecharming: _ ** _ To my Cinderella: you dropped something leaving the formal. I’d love to return it to you, if only you’d return my texts or meet me _

Virgil’s eyes widened. “My worry stone.”

“There’s another reason to tell him,” Logan said. “Aside from the fact that you’re so obviously and desperately into him.”

Virgil playfully shoved him, following Logan into his bedroom and flopping onto the bed. “I told you guys I’d think about it.”

“Well think about it harder while I take a shower and brush my teeth and hope that’s enough to get rid of the smoke stench.”

“Yes, sir,” Virgil said sarcastically.

He grabbed his phone the minute Logan left the room, only to find it still open to Roman Prince’s instagram page. Curiosity finally won out.

The page was filled with selfies and almost professional-looking photos that Virgil refused to admit made his heart flutter now that he knew the man behind them so well. There were also numerous pictures of Roman Prince and his “friends” (because Virgil remembered from stressed-out venting at three in the morning that Roman Prince felt like his only friend was Patton).

The most common person shown in the photos (aside from Roman Prince himself) was Patton. Countless selfies and well-taken photos of the two of them covered the account. Virgil couldn’t help but smile at how happy they both looked.

And then, Virgil noticed the numerous pictures of his drawings interspersed with the photos. His brow furrowed as he scrolled through the page, finding every single drawing he’d done that year on Beach’s desk. Even before Virgil did it intentionally to annoy him, or just leave him a cute drawing once they became friends.

He clicked through each post starting from the very first, reading the captions. At first, they were very annoyed, angry even. But as time went on, they grew more understanding, more fond. Roman sounding more and more happy about being left little doodles everyday.

And as the dance got closer, his excitement was palpable in the caption. He was elated at finally getting to meet Virgil and he mentioned it in so many captions (meaning that the girls currently trying to trick Roman into dating them weren’t as smart as they thought, or as good at social media stalking as they thought).

Then, Virgil came across the last desk photo on the page. It was from the past week and the desk was completely blank. Clean and spotless, not even a pencil smudge on it. The caption read:

** _yourprincecharming:_ ** _ He’s not left me anything in days :( _

Virgil turned the screen off and tossed his phone aside with a frustrated groan. He threw his arms over his face and stayed like that until Logan returned.

“Did you somehow have another crisis in the fifteen minutes I was gone?” Logan sassed, digging through his drawers for some of Virgil’s clothes.

Virgil snorted, moving his arms away from his face so that Logan could understand him. “You know me. New minute, new crisis.”

“Go shower and finish your crisis,” Logan said, throwing a towel and bundle of clothes at his face. “We’ll talk about it when you get out.”

Virgil hummed and did as he was told, incredibly lost in thought while in the shower and too drained to straighten his hair after.

He stared at himself in the steamy mirror. Shaggy hair, still rocking the early 2000s emo look because he was too anxious to find a new style and too broke to afford a good haircut. Without his makeup, the bags under his eyes were deep and dark and definitely concerning. His skin was so pale you could see his veins, which wasn’t surprising considering he lived in a basement. Not to mention how skinny and scrawny he was from not eating nearly enough for so many years.

What would Roman possibly see in him? His personality was shit and he wasn’t easy on the eyes.

But Roman _ had _ asked him out after getting to know him. So he apparently didn’t find his personality completely repulsive. And he didn’t seem to mind the way Virgil looked at the masquerade, though he had been wearing makeup and a mask. And his hair had been slicked back.

But as shallow as Roman had always seemed at school, Virgil had seen none of that person in their texts. He was so kind and genuine, and pretty dramatic but in a charming way. Would he be able to look past Virgil’s looks?

There was a loud banging at the bathroom door and Virgil almost launched himself onto the counter.

“Stop having a crisis in my bathroom and have it out here where I can tell you how dumb you are.” Logan called through the door.

Virgil rolled his eyes and pulled open the door. Logan raised an eyebrow at Virgil before turning around and heading back to his room. Virgil followed, more subdued.

“Can we finish the crisis now and move on with our lives?”

Virgil sighed, shutting the bedroom door. “I don’t know.”

“Let’s make a deal,” Logan said, voice gentler.

Virgil flopped on the bed next to Logan with an eyebrow raised. “And that would be?”

“I’ll ask Patton on a date if you tell Roman who you are.”

Virgil rubbed his thumb into the center of his other palm. “I -- I don’t know.”

“What’s holding you back most right now?”

“I don’t know,” Virgil said again. “Roman will use everything if he associates with me. Things will probably get worse for the two of us, everyone will hate the people that took the school’s Golden Boy. I’m ugly and unlikable and Roman’s bound to see that without a screen or mask in the way.”

“I’m not convinced about any of these but let’s focus on the last one. One, you are far from unlikable. You are actually one of the few likable people on this planet.”

“But--”

“Virgil stop being mean to my best friend, that’s really rude of you,” Logan said, still seriously but a slight teasing lilt to his voice.

Virgil snorted. “Fine, I’m not totally awful. But what about--”

“That’s your anxiety talking. You can’t keep letting it rule your life. You can’t let it keep you from being happy forever.”

Virgil sighed, covering his face with his hands. “I know.”

“So are you going to do something about it?”

Virgil sat up with a scowl. “I guess so.”

“So on Monday you’ll tell Roman?”

“Why don’t I just text him?”

“I’m told people like getting that sort of information in person. Not to mention he’s a romantic and he’ll swoon in your arms.”

Virgil let out a short laugh. “People are so damn complicated.”

Logan snorted. “You’re telling me.”

They flopped back onto the bed in unison. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Virgil turned back to Logan.

“You know,” he said, “you’re giving me a lot of time to work myself into an anxious frenzy and back out of this. We’ve got the rest of tonight, plus Saturday and Sunday,  _ plus _ all the time it’ll take on Monday to track him down and get him in private.”

“I guess I’ll just have to keep you on track, then.” Logan smirked. “Maybe drag Maisey into it.”

“Oh,  _ gosh _ , no,” Virgil said, laughter in his voice as he reached over to wack Logan with a pillow. “They get  _ way _ too into matchmaking.”

Logan was laughing too, grabbing a pillow of his own to fight back.

It had been a long time since they’d acted this childish, but Virgil guessed that the stress had been getting to both of them. It felt good to relax and goof off and let loose. They needed this.

Maybe Virgil should start pillow fights more often.

After a while, they calmed down and laid back on the bed again. They must have fallen asleep, because Virgil jumped awake and shot up in the bed in a panic when someone started knocking on the bedroom door.

Logan groaned and called out a snappy, “What?”

“Dinner, boys!” Mrs. Boman called.

Logan groaned again, but sat up. “I guess eating would be smart,” he muttered. “Have we eaten today?”

Virgil shrugged. “I don’t think I have.”

Logan hummed, sitting in the bed a few moments more before forcing himself up and out of it, holding out a hand for Virgil. “We should probably do that, then.”

Virgil took the hand. “We probably should.”

It was fast food at the Boman’s that night, an extremely rare occasion; but Mr. Boman was still at work, and Mrs. Boman was too exhausted from her shift to cook. He didn’t know how she knew he’d be there, and he didn’t really have the energy to ask, so he just accepted the food with a smirk.

The rest of the weekend was a blur of frantic anxiety and wishing he could back out of the decision he made. Virgil supposed he could back out, but he promised both Logan and Maisey (he had ended up telling them during his Saturday shift, he could never keep anything from them) he’d go through with it.

He had to talk to Roman.

He had to tell him.

And after school on Monday, he finally got his chance.

Logan hung back at the gate near the student parking lot while Virgil steeled himself and walked over to where Roman was getting into his car with Patton. His shoulders were tense.

“Roman,” Virgil called out, still getting used to not using his last name and needing to make a conscious effort not to call it out.

Somehow, Roman’s shoulders tensed even more. Before Virgil could say anything else, Roman let out a long-suffering sigh and turned around.

“Look,” he called out, “I’m sure that way deep down, under all…  _ that _ ,” he gestured to all of Virgil, and Virgil pulled an offended face, “you’re probably a cool guy and all, but please tell whoever put you up to this that I want nothing to do with them. Your sister or whoever else could’ve roped you into this. I’m seriously looking for someone right now and I just can’t keep putting up with all these distractions.”

“Right,” Virgil said through clenched teeth, already turning around. “Have a nice life.”

He speed-walked away before either could reply.

Logan rushed to keep up with him once Virgil passed him at the gate.

“What the hell just happened?” He asked, putting a hand on Virgil’s shoulder.

“It doesn’t matter,” Virgil bit out, shrugging the hand off. He shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his hoodie and quickened his pace. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Virgil!” Logan called after him, struggling to keep up.

He didn’t slow his pace, making it to the Insomniac in record time. He was in the employee room slipping on his apron before Logan even made it inside. He took his place behind the counter as Logan finally burst through the door.

“Virgil, what the  _ fuck _ ?!”

Maisey popped out from somewhere in the stacks. “What did he do this time?” They asked teasingly, before sensing the tense mood and dropping their smile.

“I don’t even  _ know _ ,” Logan sighed, running a hand through his slicked-back hair.

Maisey joined Virgil behind the counter, swapping a blue button out for a pink one and staring him down.

“He blew me off,” Virgil grit out. “That’s the end of it.”

Maisey frowned. “You should text him and tell him that he just pulled that shit on his real Cinderella. I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding, he’s had a lot of fakers.

Virgil scoffed, throat tight. “As if.”

“Virgil,” Logan said in a chastising tone, approaching the counter.

“No, Logan!” Virgil cried out, glad that the only customers at the moment were a few quiet regulars. “If he can’t look past all  _ this _ ,” Virgil gestured to all of himself, mocking the exact movement and words that Roman Prince had used, “then why should I even bother?”

“Have you considered that it wasn’t  _ your _ appearance or reputation that was throwing him off, but Kameron’s?” Logan crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

“No, and I’m done considering  _ anything _ about  _ anyone _ . This whole time I’ve just been setting myself up for heartbreak and I’m not letting us drag this out anymore!” The longer he had to talk about this, the more choked up Virgil got.

Maisey put an unusually steady hand on his shoulder. “Go back into the employee room and calm down. You don’t want the after school rush to come in and catch you like this.”

As Virgil slid over the counter, Logan hesitantly stepped forward and reached out. “Virge, I’m sorry.”

Virgil waved him off with a sad smile. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I promise.”

Logan nodded, but still looked guilty as he turned back to the counter.

Virgil leaned back against the employee room door the second he closed it, turning his face upward and blinking rapidly to keep the tears at bay. If his makeup was started running from his tears, he didn’t know if he could make himself go back out there.

He knew he never should have gone through with any of this, but he listened to his heart instead of his head and let himself get hurt. This was why he didn’t trust anyone save for two. This was why he didn’t let his guard down. He was dumb enough to try it for the first time in years, and it ended in heartbreak.

He should’ve known.

But at least he can learn from his mistake and never let this happen again.

Maisey let him stay mostly in the stacks during his shift, dusting shelves and shelving books. He was so grateful to her. He didn’t think he could handle customer duty that day.

He was taking a brief break (his back was screaming at him, a combination of his bad mattress and being on his feet for too long), sitting with Logan for just a few minutes, when a group of jocks came in as part of the after school rush. 

The Insomniac was the closest coffee shop to the school, jocks stopping by after school happened all the time. They were in and out in a flash, unless it was after a weekend practice.

But the second Roman Prince walked in, Virgil raced back into the forest of bookshelves like his life depended on it. He tried his best to steady his breathing while hiding in the non-fiction section (he knew for a fact that Roman Prince was not a fan of non-fiction for the most part), dreading having to come out because he knew Maisey would need help with all those drink orders.

Just as he was finally getting a grip, Maisey called out a hesitant, “Virgil?”

As Virgil slowly made his way to the counter, he tried to convince himself that seeing and learning to deal with Roman Prince like a regular person again would be in his best interest. This was just the first step to doing so.

Maisey gave him a subtle apologetic look as he slid across the counter, but he waved her off and got started on the orders, refusing to look over the counter at  _ any _ of the jocks, much less Roman Prince.

There was an order for his mother’s cinnamon vanilla coffee. He knew who that was. There was only one person that could be. And he so wished that he could pass the order on to Maisey, but she couldn’t make it like he could.

He should’ve never recommended his drink to that tool.

But he made it, carefully slid it across the counter, tried his hardest to ignore the thanks. He moved on to the next drink, pretending the sting in his eyes didn’t exist.

He managed to get through his shift without breaking down. Logan’s parents called him home for dinner before Virgil got off, so he went home alone that night. He was ready to curl up on his shitty mattress with his shitty pillows and blankets and cry himself to sleep.

He should probably also do homework, but he didn’t have anything due the next day, so crying himself to sleep seemed like a solid plan for the rest of the night.

Kameron gave him a fiery glare when he got home, but he dismissed it. She was always angry for one reason or another, and he was often the target of her abuse, but he really wasn’t in the mood for her brand of bullshit that night. He brushed past her and went to do exactly as he planned.

But first he had to deal with his incessantly buzzing phone.

**_RP:_** _You know_

** _RP:_ ** _ I could just cut class and see who shares the desk with me _

** _RP: _ ** _ in Beach’s _

**_RP_**_:_ _I could find you._

Angry, frustrated tears started building up in his eyes. He couldn’t keep doing this. Even Virgil couldn’t take this much. And he could take a lot.

** _V:_ ** _ Fuck off _

** _V:_ ** _ you made it pretty clear how you felt. _

** _RP:_ ** _ what do you mean???? _

** _V:_ ** _ dont worry about it _

** _V:_ ** _ lose my number _

** _RP:_ ** _ I wont stop looking _

** _V:_ ** _ good for you _

** _RP:_ ** _ Please, what did I do? _

** _V: _ ** _ have a nice life. _

Virgil muted the text thread after that. He didn’t know why he didn’t just block the number. It would only hurt him more that he didn’t.

He cried himself to sleep.

The next day at school, Virgil avoided Roman Prince as best as he could. Which, of course, with Virgil’s luck, meant he ran into the other boy constantly.

Joking around at his locker with his “friends.”

Being swarmed in the hallway with people of all genders pretending to be his Cinderella.

Racing off to practice,  _ literally _ running into Virgil this time, almost knocking him off balance.

It was hell.

And then he realized that Logan hadn’t so much as mentioned Patton since Roman Prince had blown Virgil off the day before.

“What’s going on with Patton, then?” Virgil asked while on the bus ride home.

Logan stiffened next to him. “Nothing.”

“I thought you were going to ask him out?”

Logan sighed. “I  _ was _ .”

“And?”

“After what happened with you and Roman, I’m not certain it’s wise.”

Virgil stuffed his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, fingers instinctively looking for his worry stone before realizing it was gone. He huffed and tried not to tear up.

“Look,” Virgil said, swallowing down the lump in his throat. “Patton’s different. Just because Roman Prince turned out to be the jackass we always knew he was doesn’t mean that Patton’s the same. I think you should still go for it, if you want to.”

Logan tugged at his earlobe. “I’ll… give it some more consideration.”

Virgil shrugged as they reached their stop. He bumped shoulders with Logan as they stepped out onto the street. “Tell me what you end up deciding,” he said.

Logan nodded and they went their separate ways.

When Virgil got down to the basement, he was so caught up in his own head that he almost didn’t notice the bitchy teenage girl sitting on his bed, waiting for him.

“Virgie,” Kameron sang, her voice sickly sweet, “my sweet baby brother--”

“We’re the same age,” he cut her off. “Get out of my room.”

When Kameron smiled, she looked more like a shark who’d caught her prey than an actual human person. 

“Oh, but Virgie, we have so much to talk about,” she said with more false sweetness, putting her hands over her chest. “You really think I wouldn’t find out?”

Virgil almost froze, but tried to play it off. “Find out about what? You finally realize what a bitch you are?”

He’d never seen the fake smiles and sweetness drop off her face so fast. “Listen here, you man-whore,” she spat, jumping off the bed and into his face, “you’re not going to get away with this whole ‘Cinderella’ nonsense.”

Virgil forced a scoff, stepping back from her. “What makes you think that’s  _ me _ ? As-fucking-if I’d go to a dance, let alone have anything to do with Roman Prince.”

Kameron smiled tightly. “I’m not an idiot, Virgie.” She stepped to the side, moving so he had a full view of his bed.

On it lay his mask and suit from the masquerade.

“And don’t even try to deny it,” she said. “There’s no way these are anyone else’s. I really should’ve known the moment Roman posted that picture of you. Purple really is your color, Virgie.”

“Well,” Virgil said, gritting his teeth, “you don’t have to worry about that anymore. I want nothing to do with him.”

Kameron laughed. “Oh, yeah, I saw your pathetic little attempt at a confession in the senior parking lot.”

“Then what do you gain from this?” He spat.

“I just want to make sure we’re on the same page, here,” she said, her voice once again saturated with sweetness. “See, you will never talk to Roman again. If I even see you in the same vicinity as him, you’re fucked, sweet little Virgie. Not only will Daddy find out about your  _ queer _ little secret, but so will  _ everyone _ else.”

“ _ Kameron _ \--” he hissed.

“See, hopefully these next couple days we have left of school before break will be a nice trial period, but this deal, Virgie? This lasts forever. So you better  _ watch it _ , because that boy is  _ mine _ .”

“Don’t worry,” Virgil seethed. “He’s all yours.”

Virgil did his best to continue as normal. Logan and Maisey were furious when he told them what Kameron pulled, but he convinced them to do the same. Being angry or acting out would only get Virgil in worse trouble.

And of course Virgil only made it through one day.

He’d only needed to last the rest of the last day, Thursday, until he got the reprieve of winter break. But, of course, the universe hated him.

He was on his way to Beach’s to hide out during lunch, rushing through the halls with his head down like he always did, when someone grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side of the hall, almost tripping him in the process. He wrenched his arm away and turned to tell the person off, only to come face to face with Roman Prince, and completely freeze, eyes wide.

“Forgive me if I’m wrong,” Roman Prince started, “but isn’t it odd to hear ‘have a nice life’ twice in one day? Within just a few hours of each other, too?”

Virgil’s eyes grew impossibly wider. He looked around in a panic, scanning the rapidly emptying hallway.

He locked eyes with a cheerleader he knew to be in Kameron’s little clique. Her eyes flashed with malice, and her cellphone camera did the same.

_ Well shit. _

“Just leave me alone,” Virgil said, skirting around Roman Prince and rushing away.

“Wait!!”

He did not wait.

He also did not go to Beach’s class. Roman Prince knew from their texts that he hid out there during lunch. Instead he hid out in one of the stairwells that led to a small room with no doors at the bottom. It was usually where the stoners hung out, but it was thankfully empty today.

He kept his head down throughout the rest of the day, spamming Kameron’s phone with texts every chance he got. He thought that maybe if he could explain to her that he didn’t instigate the conversation and that he told the guy to fuck off, but he knew in his heart that it wouldn’t work.

He felt dread pooling in his stomach as he made his way to the gym for the bi-yearly mandatory pep rally. Not only were there few things he hated more than pep rallies, but if he hadn’t been able to convince Kameron (and considering she left him on read, he doesn’t think he did), this is when it would go down.

He sat next to Logan in the top corner of the bleachers, hood up and head down. 

He prayed (and wasn’t that odd, he hadn’t prayed since the months right after his mother died) that Kameron wouldn’t out him. He prayed that Roman wouldn’t corner him. He prayed that lightning would strike him down this second.

Sure, there had been rumors. The bullies especially liked to call him a number of slurs despite his sexuality not being confirmed. It was all because of the makeup and the time he and Logan spent together, they really had no basis.

But if his sexuality was  _ confirmed _ , publically like it may be about to? He and Logan were fucked. They’d be lynched. And he  _ really _ didn’t want Kameron to drag Roman Prince into this massive mess, but she definitely would.

But aside from the pep rally being loud and obnoxious and altogether the worst thing imaginable, no moves were meant to destroy Virgil for the majority of the rally.

Then again, he forgot that the cheerleaders always go last.

After their dance number (and he never understood why they did a dance instead of a cheer routine, considering they were  _ cheer _ leaders), Kameron ran up and grabbed the microphone from one of the student council reps and started talking in a peppy voice about upcoming games and cheer competitions and the cheer squad in general. 

Nothing unusual about that. She  _ was _ the cheer captain.

The bell was barely minutes away. He was  _ so close _ . She hadn’t pulled anything yet.

Yet.

“And! I am happy to say that we have found our star quarterback, Roman Prince’s, Cinderella!”

The gym erupted in noise, but he could barely hear it over the pounding of the blood in his ears. He wanted to run, but he was stuck to his seat. His joints frozen solid. His body unresponsive.

“Everyone give it up for the school freak, Virgil Bunker!”

Virgil slowly looked up. Everyone was staring.  _ Everyone _ . He couldn’t do this. He had to get out. He needed out  _ right now _ .

His body suddenly unlocked and he jumped up before he could process what he was doing. Moving purely on instinct and panic, he launched himself over the guardrail next to him and climbed down the bleachers, a feat he didn’t even know he was capable of.

Through the insane noise of the gym he could hear Logan calling after him. He felt guilty for leaving him behind, but he couldn’t stay in the gym any longer. It was just too much.

His identity was just taken from him. Coming out was supposed to be on  _ his _ terms.  _ He _ was supposed to decide who knew,  _ he _ was supposed to get to decide when it happened. This was probably the second-worst day in the history of Virgil’s entire life.

He raced out the doors of the gym, blessedly located right next to where Virgil dropped down, and kept running. He wasn’t active and he wasn’t in shape, Virgil’s lungs were  _ burning _ , his legs  _ screaming _ , but he had to keep going. He had to get out of there.

Virgil raced out of the school gates, thankfully already open since school was nearly out. And somehow he got lucky, there was no security guard there at the moment.

He made a sharp turn on the sidewalk, turning in the direction of the Insomniac. It was only a few minutes away. He could make it there, hide in the employee room as long as Maisey would let him. He was nearly 18, and he’d been saving forever. He might be able to afford a shitty apartment somewhere. Maybe he should drop out of school…

He noticed the pounding feet behind him too late. His arm was grabbed and he was yanked to a stop none too gently. He whipped around, chest heaving and wild.

Roman.

_ Fucking _ .

Prince.

He tried to yank his arm away, but he was too weak from the mad escape he made. He turned his face away.

Roman Prince reached a hand to brush a thumb against the cheek still facing him. Virgil glared at him out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t even realize he’d been crying until that thumb came away wet and darkened with his eye makeup.

He tried to pull away again, but Roman Prince tightened his grip (though he remained gentle, obviously being very careful not to hurt Virgil).

“I was a fucking asshole,” Roman Prince said.

“Yeah,” Virgil snapped. “You were.”

“I’m  _ so _ sorry, Virgil.  _ Please _ give me another chance.”

Virgil tugged at his arm again. Roman Prince let his hand start sliding away, but his grip returned at Virgil’s wrist.

With his free hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out Virgil’s worry stone. He passed it over with a guilty look.

“I really don’t deserve it, but  _ please _ . I’ll be better. I’ll do better.”

Virgil turned to face him fully and glared up at him. “Are you sure you want to be with all  _ this _ ?” He gestured to himself.

Roman Prince winced, grabbing Virgi’s other wrist with his free hand. “I am so sorry, I have a lot to make up for, I’m just asking for the chance to do that.”

Virgil heard the sound of pounding feet again and looked over Roman’s Prince’s shoulder to see Logan and Patton running toward them, Logan carrying Virgil’s backpack and Patton carrying Roman’s. They stopped in their tracks, still some distance away, when they saw the position that Virgil and Roman Prince were in.

Even from that distance, Virgil could see the encouraging nod that Logan gave him. His voice echoed in Virgil’s mind.

_ Don’t keep yourself from being happy. _

Virgil had a decision to make.

“Please,” Roman whispered once more because maybe it  _ should _ be  _ just _ Roman now. “For me?”

Virgil stared down at their hands, Virgil’s both curled up in anxiety and anger, Roman’s curled gently around his wrists.

Virgil took a deep breath.

Hopefully he was about to make the right choice.

He looked back up at Roman, whose eyes were filled with hope and desperation. “You get  _ one _ trial date,” Virgil said quietly.

Roman’s eyes lit up and he opened his mouth to speak. Virgil held up a finger, Roman’s hand still attached to his wrist.

“One trial date,” he repeated. “And, if I say we’re not right after that, you leave me alone. Forever. I’m not going to set myself up for heartbreak.”

“Of course,” Roman agreed immediately, sliding his grip from Virgil’s wrists to his hands. “Hurting you again is the  _ last _ thing I want to do.”

Virgil nodded. “Could… I have my hands back now?”

“Yeah,” Roman gave an embarrassed smile and released his hands. “Sorry.”

Seeing that they were done, Logan and Patton walked up to the pair of them and handed them their backpacks back.

“Finally work it out?” Logan asked teasingly.

“Fuck off,” Virgil scoffed playfully.

Patton beamed at Roman and Virgil. “I’m  _ so _ glad you two finally found each other!” He cried, looking like he wanted to launch at Virgil for a hug but thought better of it at the last second. “Roman and I have to go pick up my siblings, but we’ll catch you both later!”

As Patton dragged him away, Roman looked at Virgil hopefully. “I’ll text you?”

“Sure,” Virgil whispered and nodded.

Roman beamed and gave into Patton’s tugging.

Virgil turned to Logan and raised and eyebrow.

Logan furrowed his brow. “What?”

Virgil rolled his eyes and continued in the direction of The Insomniac, slower this time. “Did you ask Patton out?”

“Oh,” Logan said, tugging at his earlobe. “Uh, no…”

“Who needs to finally work it out, now?” Virgil teased.

Logan scowled. “Fuck off.”

Virgil brought his hand up to his mouth and laughed behind his sleeve.

Maybe things would work out. For all four of them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They go on a DATE (it's about time)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyy, I barely slept but here is your chapter I completely forgot what I was going to say in this beginning note tbh lol. Hope y'all like it!

Needless to say, Maisey was over the moon when Virgil told them, arriving at The Insomniac only a few minutes after saying goodbye to Roman. They squealed and asked for a hug before squeezing Virgil around the middle so hard he was certain his eyeballs must have bulged out of his skull.

Then, they learned that Logan hadn’t asked Patton out yet and immediately rolled their eyes and started lecturing him. After being on the other side of Maisey’s lectures for  _ weeks _ , Virgil found it absolutely hilarious.

What  _ wasn’t _ so hilarious was Damien’s reaction when Virgil got home.

“How  _ dare _ you make a mockery of this family,” he roared the moment Virgil walked through the door. “And what would your mother think?!”

Virgil felt rage boil up in his stomach and chest. He’d put up with this long enough. He was done letting this man control his life.

“Considering she had more love in the nail of her pinky finger then you do in your entire person, I think she’d be pretty okay with it so long as I’m happy,” Virgil snapped back.

Damien looked taken aback. “Excuse me?” His voice was more surprised than offended or upset.

“Just because you and your kids get a kick out of hurting other people doesn’t mean she did or would. As long as I was happy and safe, she wouldn’t give a  _ damn _ about who I loved. And if you ever loved her or respected her at all, maybe you’d learn to agree. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do.”

Damien was too stunned by the fact that Virgil talked back for the first time in their lives together to reply.

When he walked past the living room, he found Kameron on the couch, smirking victoriously. He felt that feeling build up in his chest again.

He smirked back at her. “Thanks for getting me a boyfriend, bitch,” he said and watched her smile drop. It was  _ extremely _ satisfying.

He walked back down the stairs to his “room” and felt the stress of the day hit him. Hell, he felt the stress of the whole  _ week _ hit him. He collapsed on his bed, running his hands through his hair.

“I have a date with Roman fucking Prince.” He said out loud to himself. His eyes went wide and he rolled onto his stomach. “Oh my gosh, I have a date with Roman.”

He pulled out his phone and immediately texted Logan.

** _V:_ ** _ Holy shit I have a date with Roman _

** _Specs:_ ** _ Yes, you do. Are we having another crisis? _

** _V:_ ** _ Idk _

** _V:_ ** _ Holy shit he just texted me _

** _Specs:_ ** _ He’s had your number for months, are you surprised? _

** _Specs:_ ** _ Go answer him _

Virgil took a deep breath before opening the text and nearly squealed. It may just be a trial date, and Roman had really messed up, but he couldn’t deny that he  _ really _ liked Roman. Like, a lot. And the fact that Roman liked him too still had him reeling, even after the weeks since the dance. He really hoped Roman (and Virgil himself) didn’t blow this.

** _RP:_ ** _ So you have a preference where I take you tomorrow? _

Virgil took a moment to change his contact name, going simply with “Ro” for now.

** _Ro:_ ** _ I’m paying, of course, and later on I’ll totally plan dates myself _

** _Ro:_ ** _ I’m not gonna make you do all the planning work _

** _Ro:_ ** _ but I want you to be as comfortable as possible on this trial one _

** _Ro:_ ** _ we could even do it at the insomniac? _

Virgil bit back a grin. This was already going well, Roman making sure he was 100% comfortable with the date, which, Virgil doubted that he would ever be 100% comfortable dating, but the effort was appreciated nonetheless.

But no way was he having a first date at The Insomniac for Maisey and the regulars to embarrass him.

** _V:_ ** _ There’s this nice little 50s-esque diner _

** _V:_ ** _ Bluejay’s _

** _V:_ ** _ If you’re interested _

Hopefully Bill and Jason wouldn’t embarrass him, but they  _ would _ for sure keep an eye out for him. He also hadn’t had a chance to thank them for the suit or tell them about the masquerade, yet, and this would give him a good chance to. And let him show them what their suit helped him out with…

** _Ro:_ ** _ Sounds good to me! _

** _Ro:_ ** _ want me to drive you? _

** _V:_ ** _ Nah, I’ll meet you there _

** _Ro:_ ** _ Alright! _

** _Ro:_ ** _ Does 7 sound good? _

** _Ro:_ ** _ 7 sounds great _

Virgil buried his head in his pillow. He honestly still didn’t think this was a good idea for either of them, especially with the school social structure being the way it was. But he couldn’t deny the fact that he was practically  _ giddy _ for his date tomorrow.

His first date with Roman.

His first date  _ period _ .

He wished his mom were here to see.

The thought hit him like a truck.

There were so many firsts his mom wasn’t there for. When he first finally learned how to ride a bike without training wheels. His first chest hair, which for some reason young boys always get excited about. His first school dance (the 8th grade end-of-year dance was a  _ trainwreck _ ). Countless more that he didn’t want to think about.

And now his first date.

That could possibly turn into his first boyfriend.

Maybe even his first  _ kiss _ .

He was still looking forward to it, he just wasn’t as excited as he was a few minutes ago.

Virgil slept fitfully that night. He wasn’t sure if it was from anticipation for the date or from thinking about his mom, but either way, he didn’t rest well. He had a shift at The Insomniac late in the morning. The house was strangely quiet when he left. He tried to dismiss it as just the first day of winter break, but there was an uneasy feeling in his stomach as he made his way out the door that morning.

Maisey practically assaulted him when he walked in the door, moving so fast that their yellow button nearly ripped off their apron.

“When is it,” they shouted. “Where is it? What are you doing for it? Oh, I’m so excited!”

Regulars shot them odd looks (and luckily the only people currently in the cafe were regulars, Virgil didn’t want his life exposed to strangers) despite being used to Maisey’s brand of crazy.

Alice, ever the smart one, immediately caught on. “Virge has a date,” she said quietly, eyes wide. She spoke louder, “A real one this time, not just a school dance!”

“Stop being intelligent,” Virgil called back, breezing around Maisey to get his apron from the employee room.

When he came back out, Nicholas, Morgan, and Esperanza had all joined Alice at her table. Even Maisey had joined in.

Morgan grinned devilishly at him. “Nicholas wants to know if he’s hot,” they said.

Nicholas slapped their arm gently before gesturing back to Virgil.

Morgan laughed. “Okay, he actually asked if he was handsome, which he thinks means something different than hot.”

Virgil gave in and pulled up yet another chair to the already crowded table. It’s not like they had any other customers at the moment.

“I agree with Nicholas,” Virgil said, “and I guess he’s handsome? I mean what does handsomeness even entail? It’s a societal construct.”

Maisey laughed at him. “V-dog, I’m aroace and even I can tell that he’s a fucking hot piece of ass.”

Virgil glared at them. “Don’t talk about him like that! Don’t objectify him!”

Maisey smirked and Virgil realized the obvious trap he walked into.

“Damn, V,” Esperanza said, “you got it bad, don’t you?”

Virgil scowled and avoided her gaze. “Shut it, kid.”

“Aww, he’s so cute when he likes someone!” She laughed loudly. “Also, I’m a sophomore, I’m not  _ that _ much younger than you.”

“Practically a fetus,” Virgil replied and loosened up enough to let out a smile when Nicholas snickered.

Once again proving she was the most observant in the room, Alice’s face immediately brightened. “It’s that one jock, isn’t it!”

Everyone but Virgil and Alice (and Maisey, but they knew which jock Alice meant and were also immune to being afraid of jocks at this point) froze at the forbidden “j” word.

“Which one,” Esperanza asked slowly.

“The nice one!” Alice exclaimed, sitting up straighter. “The one who said he’d try to get the one that hurt Maisey off the team.”

Nicholas relaxed slightly and gave Virgil an apologetic look. Virgil shrugged it off and gave him a thumbs up.

Morgan frowned, still seeming confused. “There’s such thing as a nice jock?”

Virgil snorted and was about to ask how Alice figured it out, but was cut short by the bell above the entrance ringing, signaling a new customer. He and Maisey both stood, ready to serve and actually do their jobs and stop slacking off with the kids. They both froze when they saw who was standing at the front.

Roman.

With a bouquet of purple roses.

He grinned sheepishly at Virgil. “I know our date is tonight,” he said, walking toward Virgil, “but I couldn’t wait.”

Behind him, Morgan loudly whispered, “Pumpkin Spice, what do purple roses mean?”

Alice loudly shushed them, and he could hear Nicholas and Esperanza trying (and failing) to hold back their laughter. He looked over his shoulder to shoot them all a glare before whipping back around to face Roman.

“Pumpkin Spice?” Roman mouthed with an amused yet perplexed look.

He heard Maisey snort behind him in an effort to contain their own laughter.

“Okay,” Virgil growled under his breath at the group of them before leading Roman back across the shop.

He leaned against the customer-side of the counter, looking up at Roman through his eyelashes. “Sorry about them,” he said quietly.

Roman waved him off with a chuckle, handing Virgil the roses.

Before he could stop himself, Virgil felt his nervousness turn into anxious rambling and word vomit. “And, uh, some of the kids call Esperanza, Pumpkin Spice. It started with Alice calling her Espie, then Steven started calling her ESP, then Morgan for some reason thought they said PSL, and suddenly Esperanza was dubbed Pumpkin Spice for the rest of eternity.”

Roman gave Virgil a full-on laugh, and he felt compelled to try and hide behind the roses. He played it off by pretending to smell them.

They smelled really nice.

Roman gave him a bright smile. “So what was that little huddle about?” He asked, though Virgil  _ thought _ he sounded teasing. “Thought you guys were meant to be working.”

“You know kids,” Virgil said, trying to match his tone but probably failing due to nerves, “they always want to know all the juicy details.”

“Well,” Roman grinned, bowing a bit at the waist, “why don’t we give them something juicy, then?” He offered Virgil his hand.

Virgil, as oblivious as he knew he could be with these things, immediately saw the action for what it was. Roman was giving him a chance to back out if this was too fast or not okay.

And it was only okay because he gave Virgil the choice.

Virgil carefully slipped his hand into Roman’s. While keeping eye contact, Roman slowly lifted Virgil’s hand to his lips and pressed a lingering kiss to it. He slowly rose from his bow, still keeping his eyes on Virgil.

“See you tonight,” he said in a low voice.

Virgil couldn’t find his voice to respond.

Roman went to leave. As he opened the door, he turned back to Virgil briefly and grinned. “By the way, you look good in pink, I rather think it suits you.”

Virgil’s eyes narrowed in confusion before widening in realization. The second Roman was out the door, his hand shot up to his cheek. It was burning up.

“I’m wearing yesterday’s makeup,” he whispered. “My foundation rubbed off.”

A few regulars nearby chuckled. Maisey threw their head back and laughed.

“Look at the blushing boy to be!” They called out teasingly.

Virgil hid his face in his free hand. He brought the bouquet up and tried to hide behind it again.

“Come back and gossip,” Morgan called out with a laugh.

Virgil carefully made his way back to the table and sank back into his chair.

Esperanza leaned forward over the table with a shit-eating grin. “Suppose you’re not the only one who’s got it bad.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? And what’s that big brain of yours say about purple roses?”

She sat up straighter and mimed pushing glasses up her nose, adopting a serious, scholarly look. “ _ Lavender _ roses, which those are, are actually super rare, and  _ super _ romantic.” Her grin returned. “They mean love at first sight, or enchantment. I think people use it to show eagerness to grow a relationship, too.”

Nicholas signed something too fast for Virgil to catch (he really needed to practice and study his sign language more), but it made Morgan laugh.

“What?” Virgil asked, narrowing his eyes at the two of them.

“He says to not forget about purple’s association with royalty. The flowers are filled with splendor and ‘ _ regal majesty _ .’” They laughed under their breath and mumbled, “Roman  _ Prince _ .”

Virgil tried to ignore the pun. “I didn’t know you were into flower language, too, Nicholas,” he said, suddenly very concerned that he hasn’t been keeping up with these kids well enough since all this drama with him and Roman started.

Esperanza waved dismissively. “He’s just listened to me info dump far too much. He’s a good listener. And apparently a total information sponge.” She laughed.

Nicholas smiled with a shrug.

Virgil carefully raised a hand and, at Nicholas’s nod, ruffled the boy’s hair.

“V-dog and I should get those flowers in some water,” Maisey said, standing. “ _ And _ actually do our jobs.”

After a few more teasing remarks from the kids, Virgil and Maisey had set the flowers up in a vase on the front counter. They got into their usual rhythm of jumping between the stacks, just in time for the lunch and afternoon rush to start.

About an hour or so before Virgil’s shift ended, Logan finally dropped by. He raised his eyebrows as he walked through the door, eyes immediately following through the vase of flowers.

“Trying some new decor?’ He asked Maisey.

They laughed. “No way, those are from V-dog’s loverboy.”

“Impatient man, isn’t he,” Logan teasingly remarked.

Maisey laughed while Virgil rolled his eyes, though still smiling.

“Do you want to hear what loverboy was saying with the flowers?” Esperanza called out, still sitting at the table with the others, chatting away.

Virgil was proud of her, normally she’d be back hiding away in the stacks by now.

“Of course,” Logan said, giving Virgil one last teasing glance before heading over to join the kids.

“If it hadn’t already been soiled years ago, I’d say those kids were about to tarnish my reputation with Logan,” Virgil said.

Maisey laughed again and hip-checked him, sending him back to the stacks.

Forty-five minutes later, Kevin Armel made his way through the front door and started giving out high-fives.

Virgil shot Maisey a look and they shrugged with a grin. “You think I’m  _ not _ gonna help you get ready for your first date?”

“Let me get this straight,” Virgil said.

“Which you’re not,” Logan interrupted, joining them.

Virgil rolled his eyes and continued. “Maze, did you  _ seriously _ call in your grandpa so you could leave work early? And just because I had a  _ date _ ?”

Maisey raised their eyebrows, as if Virgil was the insane one. “Uh, yeah?”

Logan nodded. “And most of your nicer clothes are at my house anyway, so I suppose we’re headed there.”

Virgil squinted at them. “Did I get transported into a dumb, cheesy romance film?”

Maisey grinned. “Didn’t we already discuss this? Your life is literally one of those  _ Another Cinderella Story _ movies. Now let’s  _ go _ .”

Virgil rolled his eyes again but allowed himself to be shoved out the door and into Maisey’s car (but not without an insane amount of teasing from the kids and even Mr. Armel himself). The drive to Logan’s house was filled with discussion of what Virgil should wear and what his makeup should look like that night, discussion that Virgil himself wasn’t even  _ involved _ in.

He’d be annoyed about it, but he was too busy letting his intense anxiety bubble over as the date grew nearer.

When they arrived at Logan’s, Mrs. Boman had a knowing gleam in her eyes, but didn’t say anything about the date. She greeted them cheerfully as always and sent them back to Logan’s room.

There was no way she hadn’t done something to help. He knew her too well.

And sure enough, there was a brand new outfit waiting on the bed, and it certainly wasn’t for Logan.

Virgil sighed. “You all know I don’t like surprises, and I definitely don’t like people plotting about me or my life behind my back.”

At least Logan had the decency to look guilty. Maisey just looked smug.

“Sorry,” Logan said. “I just knew you’d say no if me or my mom asked.”

Maisey shrugged. “I’m just ready for you to be happy already, and I didn’t have anything to do with the outfit.”

Virgil rolled his eyes (he was doing that a lot that day), but allowed a small smile. “Alright, Fairy Godparent, do your magic.”

Maisey shook their head. “Nope. Billy and Jay were the were the Fairy Godfathers. Cinderella at the ball, remember? I’m just the meddling best friend. Well, one of two.”

“Enough chatting,” Logan insisted, pushing his wheeled desk chair up to Virgil. “Now sit.”

Virgil complied and suddenly Maisey and Logan were a whirlwind around him.

They took turns with his makeup, each one pointing out things the other should do while they were working. Brushes and sponges and pigments were dragged all across his face. Virgil knew he himself was pretty good at makeup, but the two of his friends together were a force to be reckoned with.

He didn’t even have a chance to look at himself when they were finished, they started immediately on what they wanted to mess with next. Which was apparently his hair.

Unlike the dance, they decided that this time it should be left down in it’s usual too-long, shaggy, in-his-face emo style. They did, however, straighten it again. The humidity was growing with the number of clouds, and with them, his curls. The first snow was bound to happen soon.

They rushed him into the clothes Mrs. Boman bought him, clothes that actually fit and weren’t from the cheapest second-hand stores Virgil could find.

A quality purple dress shirt, along with a casual black blazer. Some black skinny jeans (pre-ripped, just a little, Mrs. Boman knew his style and probably figured she’d changed it enough on the top half) and a pair of  _ brand new _ combat boots.

Which he knew weren’t cheap. He’d checked before.

“This is too much,” he whispered.

“It’s just enough,” said Mrs. Boman. Virgil hadn’t even realized she’d entered the room.

“It’s so expensive!”

“It’s really not, Virgil,” she replied as gently as she could. “We can afford it and you deserve it. Plus, you’re our kid. You never have to worry about the price.”

Virgil froze.

He was  _ their _ kid?

They felt he was  _ their _ kid?

“Don’t start crying,” Logan warned, “you’ll make your makeup run.”

Mrs. Boman spread her arms. He rushed into them and held her tight. She squeezed back just as hard.

It still hurt that his mother wasn’t here for this milestone. But he’d never had just one mother, had he? Not for a long while.

At least one of them was here. And his second father. And his two siblings. And his Insomniac family.

Yes, he missed his mom, so damn much. But he was no orphan. He had his family, and it was pretty big at this point.

So he accepted the clothes and got dressed.

Only for everyone to try and rush him out the door immediately after.

He held his hands up to stop them. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said, “I don’t even get to see what I look like?”

Logan crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “If we do, you’ll work yourself up into a frenzy about how you hate this or that about your appearance and talk yourself out of the date.”

Virgil shrugged. They really had thought of everything, and with so little warning. “Fair point. But I still want to know what I look like.”

Maisey sighed and rolled their eyes. “Fine.” They circled around him and took pictures from various angles. “There. Now you’ll know what you looked like before that boy disheveled you--”

“No one’s disheveling anyone!” Virgil shot back, blushing under all his makeup.

“--but you don’t get these until after your date.’

“Maze,” he whined.

“Nope, now out the door with you, V-dog. Into the car.”

Maisey started shoving him out the door towards the car. Logan scowled and chased after them.

“Maisey, we don’t even know where he’s going,” he called.

Maisey froze where they stood. “I’m so dumb, how did I not consider that?”

Virgil bit back a laugh. “You were gonna drive me to my date without even knowing where?”

Maisey scowled. “My body works faster than my brain sometimes!”

“I know.” Virgil hip-checked them.

Logan walked ahead of the two of them and started getting into Maisey’s car. “So where  _ are _ we dropping you, then?”

Virgil fidgeted. “Bill and Jason’s place. Bluejay’s.”

Maisey started laughing. “Oh, they are going to be absolutely  _ delighted _ . I can’t wait to see how this situation works out.”

Virgil climbed into the car, scowling. “I chose Bluejay’s because they can look out for me in case Roman turns out to be exactly what I thought he was all along before the texts. Plus, I can count on Jason to keep Bill from embarrassing me.”

Maisey tilted their head, starting the car. “That’s actually pretty well thought through. Darn, I wanted to mock you.”

Virgil smiled and rolled his eyes. “You always want to mock me.”

“Perks of friendship, V-dog.”

They dropped Virgil off at the front of Bluejay’s at 6:50 pm with wishes of luck and teasing smiles and waves.

Considering he still had time, he decided to wait outside, just in case Roman was early like him. He waited until he got too cold to stay out there (blazers weren’t exactly warm and insulated, and the rips in his jeans weren’t helping the chill). He went inside and waited for a few minutes to get seated by one of the hostesses.

By the time Virgil slid into a booth, it was 7:05 pm and there was no sign of Roman.

_ It’s only five minutes _ , he tried to tell himself.  _ He’s coming _ .

But five minutes turned to ten. Then ten turned to fifteen.

Virgil caught Bill’s eye through the kitchen window. Something must’ve given some information away, either his outfit or his makeup or the look on his face, but Bill looked extremely sad to see him there alone.

Bill held up a finger in a universal “one moment” sign and then used it to point at Virgil. He wanted to join him? Virgil nodded and shrugged before going back to staring forlornly at the table, scraping his thumbnail up and down on the surface.

Before Virgil knew it, both Bill and Jason had stuffed themselves into the booth across from him.

Bill gave him a sympathetic look. “Get stood up, sugar?”

Virgil sighed, resisting the urge to rest his head on his arms, he didn’t want to smudge the makeup before at least he got to see it. “It’s starting to look that way.”

“Your cute phone boy from the masquerade?” Jason asked in his quiet voice.

Virgil nodded.

“Well, we wanted to hear all about it, but now I’m worried,” Bill laughed, trying to relieve the tension.

Virgil quirked his lips, leaning his forehead against his fist. “Yeah, well there was a bit of drama for a few weeks. I thought we figured it out yesterday, but maybe I was right about not wanting to get into this.”

Jason furrowed his brow. “Has he treated you poorly? Did something happen at the masquerade?”

Virgil sighed again and shook his head, opening his mouth to answer when he heard a call of his name. He whipped his head up to see none other than Roman Prince rushing across the diner.

He saw Bill and Jason share a look out of the corner of his eye before they stood, heading back to their respective stations. Bill gave him a big thumbs up and a massive grin on his way off, and Jason pat him on the shoulder with a gentle smile.

“I am so sorry,” Roman said, sounding out of breath. “My car wouldn’t start and I don’t know why, and I called Pat to pick me up but he was at work and his dad had the car anyway, the twins had a recital or something, and there wasn’t really anyone else I could call so I kinda stole my parents’ keys and--”

Virgil relaxed and shook his head. “It’s okay.”

Roman looked like he wanted to argue, but Virgil shook his head again. 

“As long as it wasn’t on purpose, it’s okay. Shit happens.”

Roman hesitantly nodded and slid into the booth across from Virgil. “So who were those guys?’

Virgil smirked. “The owners.”

Roman raised an eyebrow and looked in the direction the two had walked off in. “Really? I guess knowing the owners makes you feel pretty safe having a trial date here.” He chuckled nervously.

Virgil shrugged and nodded. “They made my suit for the masquerade, too.”

Roman’s other eyebrow lifted to join the already raised one as he whistled. Then he leaned forward over the table with a flirtatious grin. “They really knew what they were doing, huh?” He asked with a lilt to his voice.

The corners of Virgil’s lips wanted to raise into a shy smile, but he didn’t let them. Roman had to work harder than that.

“Figure out what you want to order and then waste time attempting to flirt,” Virgil said, hiding behind the menu slightly so he could let loose that smile.

“Attempting, hm?” Roman hummed teasingly, but started to examine his menu nonetheless.

Virgil decided just to get what he got last time. On the rare occasions he ate out, that’s what he tended to do. It was easier on his anxiety.

A waitress skated up to their table only moments later. He recognized her from the first time he came here with Logan and Maisey, he believed her name was Lana? She gave him a grin and a quick wink before asking if they were ready to order.

Virgil got his burger and fries, plus some water. Roman got the biggest burger available on the menu, also with fries and a glass of water.

“Oh, and also,” Roman added as she was taking their menus, “could we get a milkshake?” He had an odd gleam in his eyes that Virgil couldn’t decipher.

“Of course,” Lana said, the gleam transferring to her eyes as well. “Coming right up!”

Virgil furrowed his brows, wondering what the hell just happened.

“You look absolutely astounding,” Roman said lowly after Lana had skated off. “It’s practically impossible for me to keep my eyes off you.”

Virgil fought down the embarrassed smile again. “I wouldn’t know,” he replied. “They refused to let me look in the mirror.”

Roman chuckled. “Well I can tell you now, you are an absolute vision.”

Virgil allowed one corner of his lips to turn up ever so slightly as he looked down at the table. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

A hand gently started lifting his chin, causing Virgil to startle from the unexpected touch. Roman tilted his head back up until they were looking each other in the eyes. 

“Don’t hide that beauty of yours. Flaunt it.”

Virgil stayed like that for a moment, eyes wide in shock, before pulling away, his hand coming up to his mouth and ducked his head to hide his smile, shoulders just barely shaking in silent laughter.

Roman frowned and cocked his head to the side, hand falling to rest between them on the table. “What?” He asked.

Virgil took a few more seconds to make sure he had fully calmed down and regained control of his own face, forcing any traces of joy off of it. “I knew from our first pickup line war that you were going to be  _ such _ a flirt.”

Roman leaned over the table again, that stupidly attractive flirtatious smirk back in place. “And yet, as I recall, despite your refusal to flirt now, you won that war.”

Virgil made a quiet  _ psh _ sound, rubbing his thumb against the center of his opposite palm, suddenly realizing he left his worry stone in his hoodie.

“ _ And _ you were holding your own pretty well at the dance,” he teased further, reaching for Virgil’s hands across the table.

He allowed Roman to take one of his hands. “Well, everyone’s braver when anonymous.”

Roman shrugged. “Fair enough.”

Just then, Lana brought their drinks by, setting their waters in front of each of them and a milkshake in the middle of the table.

A milkshake with two straws.

So that’s what that look had meant.

Lana gave the two of them a wink before skating off again, grinning smugly.

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “You’re going  _ that _ cliche?”

Roman shrugged again. “It’s cute.”

Virgil rolled his eyes a little but leaned forward to reach his straw.

“Wait!” Roman said. “I, uh, actually had a question.” He rubbed the back of his neck and shifted in his seat, looking somewhat embarrassed.

Virgil raised his eyebrow again.

“So, I like to take a lot of pictures when I’m out doing stuff, and a lot of them usually end up on my instagram. I like to use it kind of like a digital diary, to keep memories somewhere I won’t lose them. Could I, uh, take a picture of us?”

He asked permission first, which was a huge point in his favor in Virgil’s book. He could give Roman that, things were going well so far, and it seemed important to him.

“Uh, yeah,” he replied, running a hand through his hair. “How, um, how do you want to do it?”

Roman’s grinned turned blindingly bright. “I figured we could just do a selfie with the milkshake, all cheesy and shit like that.”

So they both leaned over and took a straw in their mouth, foreheads almost touching. Roman held his phone out and checked the angle out of the corner of his eye. He snapped a few selfies before setting down his phone and sucking through his straw ravenously. Virgil choked back a chuckle and did the same.

It was a  _ really _ good milkshake.

And Roman was already turning him into a sap.

They pulled back at the same time and Roman gave him another bright smile.

“Oh!” He exclaimed suddenly, picking his phone back up. “Did you have an instagram I could tag?”

Virgil shrunk in on himself a little, rubbing his thumb into his palm again. “Uh, yeah, I may or may not have made it to social media stalk you after Kameron started screeching about you posting about me.”

Roman winced at the mention of Kameron. “I’m sorry about that, I really am. She shouldn’t have outed you like that.” Then he was smiling again. “But that’s pretty cute, that you made the account just for me.”

Lana unobtrusively brought their food by and left just as fast.

“Not your fault. Not entirely, anyway,” he replied. “And I am  _ not _ cute.”

“Absolutely, positively, utterly and completely adorable.”

Virgil rolled his eyes, refusing to admit he was blushing under his makeup. “Absolutely not.”

“I’ll convince you someday. What’s your instagram, though?” Roman asked, waving his phone around in excitement.

Virgil shook his head. “Eat before it gets cold, I’ll tell you later. Bill’s cooking is far more important than some dumb app for attractive people.”

Roman smirked. “So, you think I’m attractive, then?”

Virgil pressed his lips together, cursing his slip of the tongue. Roman dropped the topic with a chuckle, digging into his meal.

And Virgil could practically feel his makeup melting off with the force of his blush when Roman moaned out loud at the taste.

“I’ve eaten at five star restaurants and I’ve never tasted anything this good in my  _ life _ .” He said, moaning out again after another bite. “I’m never eating anywhere else again.”

Virgil felt frozen in place as he watched Roman lick salt and grease off his fingers. He looked up and made eye contact with Virgil, then smirked. “Aren’t you gonna eat?” He teased.

Virgil cleared his throat with a scowl, starting in on his own meal.

There was a lull in conversation while they ate. Despite having the bigger meal, Roman finished eating first. It felt like he was almost  _ examining _ Virgil while he finished, and it caused him to squirm uncomfortably.

“You know,” Roman finally said as Virgil popped his last fry in his mouth, “you don’t have to do that whole mask thing when I’m around, right?”

Virgil gave him a fake questioning look as he chewed. He wasn’t used to being read so easily, but he supposed that was what happened when someone had already learned nearly everything about you through text.

“I mean like… You know me better than anyone else in the world except maybe Patton. You know me better than my own  _ brother _ . And, I dunno, I thought I knew you pretty well, too, I guess?”

Virgil’s shoulders drooped and he started scraping his thumbnail on the table again. “I mean, yeah,” he said hesitantly, “but it’s not really that easy. It’s usually not a conscious thing I turn on and off, it’s like a defense mechanism that turns on whenever I’m around someone other than Maisey or Logan. It even turns on with the regulars at The Insomniac, just not as much as usual.”

Roman nodded, eyebrows furrowed. “I think I understand. But what about the dance?”

Virgil shrugged. “It’s different when there’s something hiding your identity. You can be whoever you want and there’s no way for anyone to know it’s you unless you tell them. There’s no reputation to protect. No one you need to hide from.”

Roman reached over and took Virgil’s hand before he could actually do any damage to the table. “So how do I get it to not turn on around me?”

Virgil shook his head. “I don’t know. Stick around? Be patient?”

“I can do that,” he whispered. “Does that mean I passed?”

Virgil furrowed his brow and cocked his head to the side.

“The trial date?’

“Oh.” Virgil relaxed, then smirked. “I guess for now,” he teased.

“Oh,  _ for now _ ,” Roman repeated, a laugh in his voice.

“Virgil!”

Virgil and Roman jumped apart at the call of his name. He hadn’t even realized how far over the table they’d been leaning to get closer to each other. That was embarrassing, he wondered what that looked like from the outside.

He glanced over to see who had interrupted them. Bill and Jason were walking towards them, Jason carrying a plate with two  _ giant _ brownies, one of which with candles sticking out of it.

“Billy, don’t embarrass the poor boy,” he heard Jason mumble to Bill.

“Hush, darlin’, we’re treatin’ him right tonight,” Bill muttered back.

They made it to the table and placed the plate in front of Virgil. Virgil’s eyes went wide.

“What?” He whispered.

“The littlest birdie told us you had a birthday tomorrow,” Bill said with a grin.

“So our gift to you both your entire meals,  _ plus _ this dessert, are all on the house,” Jason finished with a gentle smile. “And of course, this includes tipping Lana.”

Bill pulled a lighter out of his pocket and lit the three candles, then started singing loudly. “Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Virgil--”

Virgil couldn’t help the watery smile that spread across his face. He hadn’t truly celebrated his birthday in years, not since his mom died. Sure, he let the Bomans cook him a meal, but he wouldn’t let anyone buy him gifts or throw him a party or take him out for a nice meal. He wouldn’t let anyone spend money on him.

“-- Happy birthday to you!”

The diner erupted in applause. Virgil finally looked back at Roman, who was holding up his phone with a bright grin, obviously taking pictures. Virgil rolled his eyes playfully, but wiped the smile off his face and leaned over to blow out the candles. Bill, Jason, and Roman all clapped again.

“You have a good rest of your night, sugar,” Bill said, winking at him. “And good to meet you, cute phone boy,” he said to Roman.

“Billy!” Lana called. “They need you back in the kitchen!”

Bill waved one last time before making his way to the back.

“Stay safe, boys,” Jason said, and even his usual gentle smile had turned into a small, teasing grin.

Virgil shot him an accusing look as he walked back toward the office. In a very Bill-like and Maisey-like move, he winked before shutting the office door.

“What did you wish for?” Roman asked, apparently content to glance over the “cute phone boy” comment.

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Now if I told you, it wouldn’t come true, now would it?”

Roman let out an annoyed groan. “I guess.”

Virgil stared down the two giant brownies with trepidations, utterly stuffed from his burger. “I don’t think I could finish even one of these.”

Roman chuckled and tugged the plate to the center of the table. He tugged the candles out of the one brownie and tore a chunk off of it, handing it to Virgil.

“You should at least try some,” he said, pulling off another chunk for himself.

Virgil sighed, tearing off a smaller piece from the chunk Roman gave him and popped it into his mouth. He resisted the urge to moan at the amazing taste, though Roman didn’t seem to have the same reservations as he took a big bite out of his own hunk.

“I can’t believe they won’t let me pay for at least  _ some _ of this,” Virgil grumbled in between pieces of brownie.

“ _ Psh _ ,” Roman said. “Like I was gonna let you pay.”

Virgil gave him a look. “I’m not helpless.”

Roman’s eyes went wide and he choked on his next bite. “No no no,” he said quickly. “Virgil, I have more money than I know what to do with. This isn’t about you being helpless, I know you can pay, this is about me showing my affection by buying things for the people I care about. It’s just what I do.”

Virgil was still frowning, but he allowed his shoulders to relax. “We can switch off?” Virgil suggested.

Roman looked like he wanted to argue further, but gave in at Virgil’s look. “I guess that sounds alright.”

Virgil hummed, popping the last piece of his chunk of brownie in his mouth. Between the two of them, they weren’t even able to finish one of the brownies. Roman waved down Lana for a box.

“The food here is just too good,” Roman said. “I’m gonna make myself sick because I just want to keep eating it.”

Virgil hummed, just examining Roman. He was usually so unfocused on attraction to physical appearance, he hadn’t even taken in what Roman looked like all night.

His golden brown waves of hair were parted and styled in the way Virgil was used to seeing, but because he hadn’t been attracted to Roman emotionally before, he hadn’t realized just how attractive the style was. His green eyes were glittering with happiness, and Virgil’s stomach fluttered at the thought that he might be the cause of it. 

What was odd, though, was the shimmering around his eyes and cheekbones. He didn’t think Roman would be the type to wear makeup.

Not like Virgil was one to judge, though.

His gaze trailed down. A tight white t-shirt, a sleek leather jacket. Virgil couldn’t see what his jeans looked like under the table, but he was sure that Roman had chosen a pair that hugged him in all the right places.

He brought his gaze back up to Roman’s face again, only to be met with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

“Like what you see?” Roman asked with a wink.

Virgil could feel his face heating up, but despite that, he was hit with a sudden burst of confidence.

“Well if you’re going to be my boyfriend, you better get used to it.” Virgil raised an eyebrow.

He watched in satisfaction as Roman’s eyes went wide and his ears went red.  _ He _ caused that.

Roman stayed like that for a few moments before breaking into an embarrassed smile. “See,” he said. “Knew you had it in you.”

Virgil rolled his eyes but allowed a small smile.

After they got their box and packed away the brownies, Roman stood and offered a hand to Virgil to help him stand as well. He kept hold of Virgil’s hand as they made their way towards the doors.

Virgil waved at Bill as they left, getting a wide smile in return.

“So,” Roman said as they walked through the door, drawing out the word, “can I drive you home?”

Virgil gave a fake sigh, swinging their hands a little as they walked. “I  _ suppose _ so.”

Roman chuckled a bit and wrapped his arm around Virgil’s shoulders while keeping their fingers laced.

While it didn’t necessarily feel natural (and Virgil wondered if that would change, if this lasted), the way Roman carried himself and moved to initiate this sort of contact so casually, it made this so much easier. He felt like it should take someone like him longer than just one date to relax into this, and yet here he was.

He needed to stop accidentally talking himself out of this. Take Logan’s advice and stop getting in his own way of being happy.

Roman opened the passenger side door for him and offered a hand to help him in.

“I’m not helpless,” Virgil said again sarcastically, but took the hand anyway.

Roman smiled. “I know. It’s not about you not being able to do something. It’s about me wanting to help anyway, if you’ll allow it.”

Virgil hummed and Roman gave him a wink before shutting the passenger door.

They drove in silence for a few minutes. Virgil normally got anxious at silences, but this one felt oddly comfortable. Then, Roman turned toward him at a red light.

“So,” he started awkwardly, shifting his fingers around the steering wheel anxiously, “about school, then--”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Virgil said, a little too forcefully.

Roman hummed in agreement (rather unconvincingly, if you asked Virgil) and squeezed the steering wheel as they started driving again.

Virgil sunk down in his seat, beating himself up for almost ruining this already. He grimaced.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I didn’t mean it like that, I just… don’t want to have to think about it yet. We don’t go back until the 7th, plenty of time to have a multitude of anxiety and panic attacks that I’d rather not have now, after such a good day.”

Roman’s shoulders relaxed as he nodded. “I get that.” He shot a glance at Virgil. “Sorry you have to deal with that kind of stuff.”

Virgil shrugged. “I’m used to it, it’s whatever.”

They lapsed into silence once more, this one slightly less comfortable than the last, but still not necessarily  _ tense _ . It lasted until Roman pulled the car up in front of the Beste’s house.

“That stunt Kameron pulled wasn’t right,” Roman said before Virgil got out of the car. “If anyone gives you shit, they’ll have me to deal with.”

“Thanks, Roman,” Virgil whispered.

Roman took his hand and pressed a gentle kiss to his knuckles. “Have a good night, dear heart.”

“You too.”

Virgil carefully exited the car and shut the door. That boy was going to be the death of him, if one could die by death-by-blush.

Roman didn’t drive away until Virgil was safe inside the house, making Virgil even more sure of his decision to go through with the relationship.

The house was quiet and dark when he went in, the only sound coming from Damien’s TV upstairs. Normally this would have unsettled him, but when school was out this was pretty standard for Kameron and Christian. They were always out partying every night, or doing… other things.

He hoped they weren’t plotting. He deserved this, deserved a chance with Roman.

Right?

After putting his brownies away in the kitchen where the Beste’s would never look, Virgil made his way down to the basement as carefully as he could. He was desperately hoping not to alert Damien to his presence, not to mention the fact that he was getting in so late. Damien hated when he did that.

When he got down the stairs and pushed aside his room dividers, things looked a little different.

In a new, sparkling vase on his dresser were the roses Roman had given him, still as lively as they were earlier. His clothes from earlier in the day were folded neatly next to the flowers.

On his bed sat a new blanket, also neatly folded, with an envelope folded on top. Just looking at the fabric, he knew it’d be warm. He went to open the envelope and a giftcard fell out with the note.

_ Virge, _

_ We know you hate your birthday being recognized, but since it’s your 18th we decided that we don’t care this year. The blanket is from us, Logan and Maisey, since we figured it’d be getting a bit cold in this underground cave of yours. _

_ The giftcard is from Pappy. He said to take your cute phone boy somewhere nice. Or, more importantly, get yourself something nice. It’s one of those Visa ones so it works anywhere! _

_ Love, Maisey and Logan _

He smiled and curled up in the blanket on his bed the second he changed into pajamas and wiped away his makeup. It was  _ so _ warm. He could feel himself start relaxing into sleep when his phone buzzed with a series of texts. He let out a tired groan, but fished out his phone.

The texts were from Maisey, the series of photos they’d taken when Virgil complained about no one letting him look in the mirror. 

In his good mood, even Virgil had to admit that he looked pretty alright, the clothes fit his body rather nicely (though he did suddenly notice why people sounded  _ that _ concerned when they called him too skinny, with the lack of bulky clothes and the way the shirt and blazer hugged him, he looked like a twig) and his makeup was  _ killer _ .

** _Maisey:_ ** _ Also, Billy and Jason snuck some pics like the romantic stalkers they are _

The next set of pictures flooded in, being shockingly decent for being sneak shots of their date. Plus, he and Roman did look kind of cute together.

Maybe that was just the good mood talking. He hoped it wasn’t just the good mood talking.

Just barely after Virgil thanked them (both for the photos and the blanket), and sent a thank-you text to Logan, Roman texted him.

** _Ro:_ ** _ Hey just got home and realized _

** _Ro:_ ** _ never got that insta from you _

On a completely random, half-asleep whim, Virgil quickly went and changed his instagram handle to  ** _youremonightmare_ ** to match Roman’s, before following Roman’s account.

** _Ro:_ ** _ That’s one way to tell me! _

Virgil got an instagram notification saying that  ** _yourprincecharming_ ** started following him. He brought his hand up to his mouth and smiled.

Then, Roman sent him an influx of pictures. There were a few of them with the milkshake, a few with him freely smiling, (those dimples he hated so much on full display) as Bill and Jason presented him with the brownies, and a few of him blowing out the candles.

** _Ro:_ ** _ Which are okay to post? _

Virgil blinked. Roman was letting  _ him _ choose?

** _V:_ ** _ You’re letting ME choose? _

** _Ro:_ ** _ Of course! You should choose what’s posted to make you the most comfortable _

** _Ro:_ ** _ A lot of people from school follow me, you know _

** _V:_ ** _ alright. And of them are fine, except the ones where I’m smiling _

** _Ro:_ ** _ Whatever you say darling! _

** _Ro:_ ** _ But I must say, you’re quite adorable when you smile _

** _Ro:_ ** _ Everytime it happens, I’m too struck to say anything, but your dimples are the most amazing thing on this earth _

** _V:_ ** _ yeah, sure lol _

** _Ro:_ ** _ I’m serious! _

** _V:_ ** _ Whatever you say _

** _V:_ ** _ But _

** _V:_ ** _ Goodnight _

** _Ro:_ ** _ Sleep well, my darling!! _

And Virgil did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thanks so much for reading! I really hope you liked it! Yell at me in the comments or at my tumblr fic blog! I'm far too tired this morning to do the weird link thing, but you can find me at sociallyawkward--fics.tumblr.com! Next update will be on October 5th! And! On the Saturdays I DON'T update, I post a sneak peek from my handwritten first draft of the next chapter, so come stalk my tumblr lol. I shall go nap now, thanks for sticking with this fic!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry this is a day late! If you follow me on tumblr, you know what happened, but long story short, I didn't have internet access yesterday to get the chapter up! Sorry about that! Hope you enjoy it!

For the first time in many winters, Virgil woke up warm. He wasn’t shivering; he could feel his fingers, nose, and toes. He actually felt pretty good? Which was a really nice change.

He allowed himself to drift for a while, falling in and out of a hazy sleep. The mattress still wasn’t comfortable and his pillow barely supported his head, but his new blanket made such a shocking difference that he could almost relax.

_ BANG! _

Virgil shot out of bed with a terrified gasp, shooting a fearful look towards the basement door.

“Virgil,” Damien roared from the other side. “Kitchen, now!”

Virgil closed his eyes and counted to ten, trying not to lose his temper and go off like he had yesterday. He knew he couldn’t get away with that twice, not now that Damien was done being in shock. He threw on some clothes as quickly as he could and made a point to stomp up the stairs.

When he got up to the kitchen, his three “family” members were already sitting at the table. There were dirty dishes present, which meant they somehow miraculously ate breakfast without him having to cook.

“Yes, sir?” Virgil asked, trying to make it less obvious that he was gritting his teeth.

“Do you see this, Virgil?” Damien bit out, making a sweeping gesture with his arm.

Virgil took in the full scope of the kitchen.

It was a disaster zone, to put it kindly.

Food splattered everywhere. More dirty dishes than Virgil thought possible in the sink. The counters were grimier than he’d ever seen them. The floors looked like a garbage monster had vomited all over. Trash cans were overflowing.

He turned his head to look into the archway to the living room. It was in a similar state of disgusting disarray.

They’d done this on purpose, Virgil knew for certain. The only question was  _ how _ they did it without him noticing or waking up.

Well, at least they remembered his birthday.

“I do, sir,” Virgil said, resigning himself to his fate.

“You have until seven tonight to clean the house,” Damien said. “Including the bedrooms and my office.”

“And do the laundry and water the plants while you’re at it,” Kameron sneered, filing her fingernails with her feet resting on the dining table.

Disgusting. He’d have to disinfect that.

Well, actually, it looked like he’d have to disinfect the whole damn house.

“Yes, of course,” Virgil forced out.

Within minutes, the three of them had left the house to tend to their own lives. Virgil checked the time and found that his new blanket really had worked magic. It was already nearly noon. He’d slept in  _ insanely _ late.

Better get to work.

He started the hose in both the front and backyards on a drip, occasionally dropping what he’d been cleaning for a few minutes to go switch which plant was being watered.

Aside from that, Virgil decided to tackle the kitchen first. He started with the counters, scrubbing so fiercely that he finished with an obnoxious pain in his wrist and elbow that wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. Then he did the floor, aggravating his joints even further scrubbing at the floor with the mop.

And it was only the first room. He had so many more to go.

It was going to be a long day.

Once the plants were properly hydrated, Virgil did the dishes as quickly as he could (which wasn’t very fast. What was crusted onto those plates and why wasn’t it coming off?) and immediately jumping into probably the most time-consuming job next: the laundry.

He gathered all of it together on the floor of the basement and spent who knew how long sorting by color, not bothering to separate out by person. He could do that while folding. But, oh, did he ever hate laundry.

Virgil was entirely convinced that they purposefully dirtied some (most) of the clothes, just like the rest of the house. There had to be at least four or five super-sized loads once he’d separated all of the colors out.

He started the first load with a resigned sigh, making a mental note to come back down every hour or so to switch out loads.

He switched to upstairs after that, thinking it better to start with the worst areas first (and if he knew the Beste’s, their bedrooms would be the  _ worst _ ). He cleaned Kameron’s room first. She was the most likely to fuck his shit up if it wasn’t perfect. 

Then it was Damien’s lair, the room he feared most. Damien rarely forced Virgil to clean his room, wanting his space to remain untouched by the “vermin” that was Virgil, but he also didn’t do any upkeep by himself. Which meant that Damien didn’t even have to purposefully dirty his bedroom to make it look like the ancient, abandoned hoarders nest that greeted Virgil when he opened the door.

Virgil actually gagged at the scent of rotting and stale food, body odor, alcohol, and incredibly pungent cologne. 

He didn’t even want to know what the connecting bathroom looked like. Too bad he’d have to figure it out soon enough.

It was times like those that Virgil really wished he had some protective gear when he was cleaning. Like gloves. Or a hazmat suit.

He was in the middle of swallowing down vomit while shoving a 6-month-old rotten pizza into a heavy-duty garbage bag when his phone rang. Which was incredibly odd, considering everyone who had his number knew he despised phone calls.

Then again, the list of people who had his number  _ was _ very short and the only ones who ever called him were Maisey and Logan. Which was why he was shocked when it wasn’t  _ either _ of them.

**Incoming Call: Ro**

Huh.

Virgil hesitantly answered. “He--”

He was immediately cut off by the best singing voice he’d ever heard serenading him with “Happy Birthday.” Somehow he’d missed how amazing Roman’s voice was the previous night with Bill and Jason’s voices joining the mix.

Virgil couldn’t help the smile that formed on his lips.

“And how are you this fine day, my darling?”

Virgil hesitated before answering truthfully, “Better now that you called.”

That came out a lot more flirtatious than he intended.

He heard Roman sputter over the line for a moment before replying. It looked like Roman couldn’t take what he dished out.

“Not a great birthday?” Roman asked once he’d composed himself.

Virgil sighed into the phone. “The step-freaks purposefully dirtied the whole fucking house just to shit on my birthday.”

“What the fuck?!” Roman’s voice went shrill.

“Pretty standard for them.”

“I’m so sorry, Virgil, you really don’t deserve that.”

Virgil just hummed noncommittally.

“Hey,” Roman said suddenly. “Wanna video chat? I could keep you company for a bit while you clean,”

Virgil hesitated, about to say no, before he froze and realized what he was already subconsciously trying to do. He’d done it with everyone he’d met since his mom had died. The only ones to stick it out were Maisey and the others at The Insomniac.

He was trying to distance himself from Roman, make Roman prove to him that he really did like Virgil and wanted to be with him by making Roman do all the work. Make Roman fight the current to get to Virgil as he  _ actively _ pushed him away.

That wasn’t fair to either of them, especially not Roman. Relationships took work from both sides, and Virgil wanted this to last for a while before the inevitably crashed and burned like all high school romances did.

“Um, sure,” Virgil said.

“Awesome!”

After Roman’s obligatory disgusted reaction to Damien’s room (at which Virgil had to bite back a smile), Virgil set his ancient phone up on Damien’s dresser. Thankfully, he’d already cleaned it off and his phone was safe from the Damien-Germs.

Virgil had been worried that Roman would be a distraction as he cleaned, grabbing his attention freely and making him forget to keep cleaning. Or that Virgil himself would be too anxious and awkward to keep up with the talking.

Quite the opposite ended up happening.

While the conversation flowed freely, Virgil was almost  _ more _ efficient when on the call with Roman. The conversation was kept pretty light while Virgil flitted around the room. When Virgil took Roman with him to the basement to switch out the laundry, however, that mood changed.

He watched as the tiny Roman on the screen bunched his eyebrows together. “What’s behind those dividers?”

Virgil instinctively glanced back despite knowing exactly what Roman was talking about. He took that very brief moment to school his features into his “relaxed, casual, lazy” expression that he normally wore around school.

“Oh, just my room,” he said as casually as he could.

Roman remained silent for too long and Virgil looked up from where he was starting another load of laundry to see if his shitty phone had dropped the call.

On-screen, Roman was silent and completely still. The only sign that Virgil’s phone hadn’t frozen was Roman’s eyes darting back and forth between his own.

Virgil furrowed his brow. He was debating opening his mouth to question Roman when the boy in question finally spoke again.

“Please don’t do that,” Roman said earnestly.

Virgil cocked his head to the side. “Do what?”

Roman gestured with the hand that wasn’t holding his phone. “Put up that wall between us, slide on the mask I know you use at school. So far, I’ve rarely seen that expression when it’s just us, after you relax. You were closing me out.”

“Roman--”

“It’s okay, Virgil,” he said gently. “You don’t have to pretend like it doesn’t bother you or any of that, not with me. I already know most of it, remember?”

Virgil gave a resigned sigh, the tension dropping out of his shoulders. “Sorry, I’ll try.”

Roman’s brilliant smile was back. “That’s all I ask.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Stop trying to be romantic and promote a healthy relationship and continue distracting me from this shithole.”

Roman laughed and kept talking about everything and nothing. TV shows, movies, books, anecdotes. It was basically his train of thought, just out loud.

Virgil had almost finished Daminen’s room when Roman cut himself off with a frown. Virgil looked up from where he’d been making the bed.

“What is it?” He asked.

Roman was squinting at his own screen. “Patton needs my help, one of the twins or something? Their dad has the car.”

Virgil waved his hand. “Go. It’s not like you’re chained here.”

Roman chewed a fingernail. “Then you have to deal with this shit  _ alone _ on your  _ birthday _ .”

Virgil shrugged. “It’s not like it’s anything new.”

Roman’s frown deepened. “You say such sad things so nonchalantly.”

Virgil didn’t respond, not knowing how to, jerking his head in a  _ go _ motion. “Go help your friend.”

Roman hummed in agreement, still frowning. Then, right as he was about to hang up, his face brightened with a smile.

“Hey, I got a surprise for you later tonight!”

Virgil looked up again. “Roman, what--”

“I’ll text you. See you later, dearheart! Bye!” 

He hung up before Virgil could protest or question further.

Virgil rolled his eyes. Did Roman  _ know _ how much he  _ didn’t _ want to celebrate his birthday? Evidently not, but he was too busy to try and deter his boyfriend (and how weird was it to hear  _ that _ word referring to his own personal life) from whatever he was scheming up.

It was already four and he still had so many rooms to finish. This was outrageous.

Surely Damien put up the time restraint because he  _ knew _ Virgil couldn’t finish in time. That way he had a reason to punish Virgil when he didn’t follow orders. Especially with how he probably felt about Virgil’s recent “behavior.”

He finished Damien’s room as quickly as he could and rushed over to Christian’s. He froze in the door for a moment.

The room was completely spotless.

He stayed frozen for a bit longer before his brain kicked into gear. It looked like he got his birthday present with that freebie, but he still needed to finish the rest of the house.

But Damien’s office, the last room upstairs, came with another surprise.

The office itself was fairly clean. Virgil was asked to clean it often and it wasn’t the sort of room the Beste’s would purposefully dirty.

But there on the desk was an object he didn’t recognize.

It was unmistakably part of a car. He didn’t know what part, he knew almost nothing about cars in the first place, but it definitely looked like a piece that belonged in a car.

Logan would probably chastise him for jumping to conclusions so quickly, but Virgil was immediately sure that  _ that _ was why Roman’s car didn’t start the night before. It was the exact sort of shady thing the Beste’s would do to ruin him, make him complacent.

Before he could keep going, the doorbell rang.

Virgil sighed and placed the piece of machinery back on the desk and stalked downstairs to open the door, still fuming. He swung open the door somewhat violently, his scowl morphing to shock when he saw who stood there.

Logan and Maisey stood on the porch looking entirely too smug.

Virgil narrowed his eyes. “What are you two doing here?” He asked.

Maisey’s grin sharpened. “We’re here to help and we won’t take no for an answer. By the way, it’s a he/him day so far,” he said, shoving past Virgil into the house.

Virgil turned his gaze to Logan. “I can’t ask you guys to do this for me.”

Logan snorted, also forcing his way into the house. “ You’re not asking. We’re imposing on the house to clean it.”

“So, V-dog! Where do we start?”

Virgil rubbed his forehead, deciding against arguing further. He knew he wouldn’t win. “I guess you guys could work down here while I finish upstairs?”

Maisey saluted him. “Aye aye, Captain!”

Virgil smiled and shook his head. His friends were ridiculous. He made sure they knew where everything they might need was before heading back upstairs.

The three of them worked efficiently and before they knew it, the house was spotless. And it was only six in the evening.

Maisey clapped. “Alright! Go clean yourself up, now!”

Virgil looked at him, confused. “Why? I mean, I definitely want to, but I’m suspicious of you now.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “Dinner. Now  _ go _ .”

Virgil raised his hands in surrender and went to go take a shower. He really didn’t want to go out to dinner, but he knew they felt guilty when he wouldn’t let them celebrate his birthday. And if they felt guilty, he felt guilty.

It was a vicious cycle.

He made sure his shower was fast and dressed in his usual attire, hoping they weren’t planning on anything fancy. They gave him time to straighten his hair and do his makeup. He’d lost all his energy cleaning, so he kept the makeup simple.

“Ready now, V-dog?” Maisey asked, having flopped on his bed the second they all moved downstairs.

Virgil sighed. “I guess. Where are we going?”

Logan gave him a weird look. “Virgil, we know better than to make you go out on your birthday. My dad made your favorites.”

Virgil’s shoulders relaxed. “Oh, thank fuck,” he sighed. “I really didn’t want to go out tonight. Roman was already spouting some crap about a surprise and I don’t have the energy for both.”

“Ooooh,” Maisey sang. “Lover boy’s taking you out?”

Virgil snorted. “Apparently.” He checked his phone for the time and started rushing the three of them upstairs and out of the house. “Hurry up, step-douche wanted the house cleaned by seven, which means he’ll be home any minute. He can’t catch you guys here.”

They raced over to Logan’s house, joking and horsing around and making sure to keep moving to avoid freezing. The moment they got there, Virgil was swept into giant hugs by both of the Boman’s. He could smell mac n cheese and chicken nuggets and some sort of biscuits.

Comfort food.

Dinner was homey and comfortable and warm. The food was  _ amazing _ , as Mr. Boman’s cooking always was. He got to be surrounded by his favorite people, his family, on his birthday. Virgil had never been so grateful to be dragged into a situation he didn’t originally want to be in.

_ And _ Mr. Boman was saving a ton of leftover mac n cheese for him to take home another day. He unfortunately couldn’t take them with him that night because of Damien being home.

“We’ll get some meat on those bones, yet, Virgil,” Mr. Boman teased as he saw Virgil out.

“Gonna have to make a lot more food for that to happen, Mr. Boman,” Virgil replied, waving to him and Mrs. Boman both as he walked out the door.

Maisey and Logan walked him home, and while they were still joking around on the way back, they were all much more subdued knowing what they were leading Virgil back to.

“You could just… not go home,” Maisey said flippantly, as if he was joking. They all knew he wasn’t.

Virgil sighed. “It’s not that simple,” he said, starting to walk towards the house. “And it’s not home.”

“I know,” Maisey whispered. “About both.”

“Have a good night, Virgil,” Logan called.

Virgil turned back to look at them, giving them a wave and a tight smile.

Time to face the beast.

Virgil walked inside and the first thing he heard was a deafening  _ BANG _ as Damien slammed his fist down on the kitchen table.

“Where the  _ hell _ have you been?!” He shouted.

Virgil flinched violently, unable to control his reaction at being jumped so suddenly like that.

“Ou-out to dinner, sir,” he choked out.

“And who gave you permission?”

“The rule, uh, the rule is, um, I get to go out if the ch-chores are done. I cleaned the-the whole house.”

Damien’s scowl deepened, but he had no retort.

“I, um, I should head to bed.”

He scurried past Damien, hoping that that was the end of it. Luckily, Damien didn’t call him back. He rushed downstairs as fast as he could, wishing not for the first time that he could lock the door from the inside (and that they didn’t have the key).

Finally out of school and without homework, Virgil pulled out the sketchbook that he’d barely had time to touch since school started. As frustrating as it could be sometimes, being able to  _ really _ get back into his art, not just desk doodles, after so long was refreshing.

He got so focused on it that he almost launched off his bed when his phone started vibrating next to him. Eyeing the caller ID showed that it was Roman. He picked up.

“You know,” he started conversationally, instead of with a greeting, “I hate phonecalls.”

“Sorry, darling,” Roman replied, “but I’m, like, two minutes away and texting and driving is a little dangerous and illegal.”

Virgil shot up out of his relaxed slouch. “Wait!”

He heard brakes squeal on the other end. “What?!” Roman sounded rather startled.

“Don’t drive up to the house, they’ll see you and I’m already on thin ice right now. Park down the street and text me where, don’t come to the door.”

“But what if I wanted to be all romantic and come get you at your door and walk you to the car?”

Virgil  _ knew _ he shouldn’t relent, it was dangerous, but…

He sighed. “Hop the back wall where no one will see you. I’ll come out the basement window.”

“Can-can you fit?” Roman asked, sounding concerned.

Virgil scoffed. “Like I told Logan a thousand times, I’ve seen Christian fit through it on a dare. It’s fine.”

“Alright,” Roman relented with a sigh. “I’ll be there real soon.”

Virgil hung up and added a few last lines to the sketch. He jumped again when there was a knock at the window. He glanced up to see Roman grinning at him through the glass. He set aside the sketchbook to open it.

“Hey, dearheart,” he said quietly. “Bundle up, it’ll be a little chilly where we’re headed.” He cocked his head. “Well, a lot chilly.”

Virgil furrowed his brow while he went to go layer his shirts. He didn’t really have a warm coat. “Where are we going?”

Roman chuckled. “Well if I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?”

Virgil sighed but continued bundling up. He motioned for Roman to look away so he could layer his jeans with some of the leggings he had hidden at the bottom of his dresser just for cold days. Roman did so with wide eyes and a blush. Virgil pulled on a pair of socks and boots and grabbed his usual hoodie before jumping up to crawl out the window.

Roman, ever the gentleman, turned back around to help him stand after he wiggled most of his body through.

“C’mon,” Roman whispered. “I parked just down the street a little.”

Roman took his hand. They jumped the wall together and ran down the street, Roman grinning widely and Virgil holding back his own smile. He’d never felt so  _ giddy _ sneaking out before.

Probably because he’d never sneaked out with a cute boy with mutual feelings (who was his  _ boyfriend _ !!!) before.

Roman led them to his convertible and opened Virgil’s door to help him in, then ran around the car to get in himself. Piled in the backseat was a surplus of blankets, scarves, and hats. Virgil turned forward again as Roman started driving.

“There’s some clouds rolling in so we’ll have to go fast. I don’t want to miss our window.”

“If you’re taking me out to the middle of nowhere to kill me, I’m going to be pissed. That’s totally unromantic,” Virgil said sarcastically, but shifted anxiously in his seat.

He  _ hated _ surprises.

Roman glanced over briefly. “I promise -- hey, darling, seatbelt -- I promise that it’s nothing bad. I think you’ll really like it.”

Virgil buckled his seatbelt and started tapping and wiggling his fingers. “I’m not the biggest fan of surprises,” he mumbled.

Roman reached over to squeeze his arm. “I promise it’s really good, okay? If I learned anything about you in all these months, you’ll love it.”

Virgil pulled out his worry stone and hummed, but didn’t answer otherwise.

After driving for some time, and practically making their way out of town, Roman pulled over after the last stoplight on the road they were on.

“Okay, so this is the fun part,” Roman said, “but it’s gonna get cold. And no, this isn’t the surprise.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow, but yelped when Roman started putting the top down and the cold air seeped in. “Roman, it’s freezing!!”

“I know!” He tried to placate. “It’s worth it, I swear! Here…”

Once the top had been put all the way down, Roman reached into the backseat and grabbed some of the winter gear. He pulled a hat over Virgil’s head and ears, wrapped an absurdly long scarf around his neck (and made sure it covered the bottom half of his face) and handed him a pair of gloves to slip on.

Virgil scowled at him under the new mound of fabric.

“Alright,” Roman grinned, pulling back out onto the street, “get ready for some slight illegal activity.”

Virgil’s eyes went wide. “Wait--” he cried, voice muffled by the scarf, reaching out to grab Roman’s bicep.

Roman laughed and hit the gas. They weren’t necessarily going at a  _ dangerous _ speed, but they were a decent amount over the speed limit. Virgil could see the dips in the road ahead. There were no street lamps or other cars out on the road because they were so far away from the heart of the city, practically out of town, and so late at night, too.

“Roman!” Virgil was gripping the door of the car as hard as he could.

They hit the first dip and Roman whooped. Virgil’s stomach flew. It briefly felt like his body was, too. The wind was whipping around him, pulling and the scarf and the hair that was sticking out from under the beanie.

It was  _ freeing _ .

They hit the next dip, this one deeper, and Roman was laughing through his whoop that time. Virgil grinned under the scarf. He let go of the door.

“I told you it’d be fun,” Roman shouted over the wind.

Virgil didn’t respond, pulling off the borrowed gloves and hat to feel the wind fly through his fingers and tousle his hair. They hit the next dip and the feeling tugged at his stomach again. Roman laughed again and Virgil instinctively bit back his own.

The air got colder the further out from the city they drove, probably because all the concrete and asphalt in the city absorbed all the heat and shot it back out. There were no sidewalks, no other streets, no  _ people _ . Just them and the wilderness.

Roman slowed to a stop and pulled off to the side of the road a hundred feet or so from a curve in the road. Virgil’s face where the scarf was wasn’t covering was frozen, as were his hands and fingers. Even his body under all his layers of clothes was starting to get chilly. It was worth it.

Roman pulled the keys out of the ignition and pointed ahead to the curve in the road. “Just up there is a hiking trail. It’s pretty long, so the more serious hikers camp out. There’s wildlife around, but nothing should bother us.”

Virgil shivered and pulled the gloves and hat back on. “Haven’t been hiking in… forever,” he said. “Maybe we could, um, come out here when it warms up? I dunno about camping out, but…” He fidgeted with his fingers as much as he could with gloves on and shot a glance over at Roman.

Roman was grinning. “I would love to do that, Virgil,” he said earnestly.

Virgil relaxed. “Cool.”

Roman hopped out of the car and started grabbing blankets from the backseat. He laid one over the hood of the car, then opened Virgil’s door and offered his hand. Virgil grabbed it and stood.

“Now it’s time for your  _ real _ surprise. Go sit on the hood and close your eyes. I’m just gonna grab something.”

Virgil nodded and climbed onto the hood of the car, sitting cross-legged and shutting his eyes. He shakily covered them with his hands.

“Don’t be nervous,” Roman said.

“I hate how easily you read me already,” Virgil grumbled, shifting his weight. “It’s not fair.”

Roman snorted. “I’m just observant when it comes to you, I guess. And it’s not incredibly hard to see your hands trembling like that.”

“I don’t like surprises,” Virgil repeated.

“I know, and there will be as few surprises as possible in the future, just give me a second more.”

Virgil felt someone climb onto the car next to him and tensed on instinct. A shoulder pressed against his and he flinched.

“Shit, sorry,” Roman said quietly, “just me. I’m going to put a blanket over our laps and another around both our shoulders, okay?”

Virgil nodded. Roman moved slowly next to him to drape the blankets over them. He also felt Roman place something onto the blanket right in front of him.

“I put a thermos and tupperware in front of you, but first, the surprise! I want you to tilt your head up, okay? Do you trust me?”

To Virgil’s own surprise, he whispered, “Yeah,” and carefully looked up, eyes still closed.

“You ready?”

“Yeah?”

“Alright… One, two,  _ three _ !”

Virgil pulled his hands away and opened his eyes. The sight before him stole his breath away. He pushed the scarf down his face and the beanie further up his head to see it better.

There were more stars above him than he’d ever seen in his  _ life _ . They were so bright. He could even almost see the Milky Way, but there was still a little too much light pollution still being so close to the city. There were so many stars, it took him a moment to even pinpoint the constellations he’d memorized.

“Beautiful,” Virgil breathed.

“Yeah,” Roman whispered back.

Virgil managed to tear his eyes away from the sky and look toward Roman, only to find Roman already staring at  _ him _ . Virgil’s eyes went wide and judging by the newfound warmth in his cheeks despite the freezing cold, he was probably blushing. He regained control of his face and playfully scowled, shoving Roman.

“Cheesy asshole.”

Roman nearly tumbled over the edge of the car, but he was laughing all the way. Virgil covered his own mouth to hide his smile.

“I thought we already established how cheesy I was with the milkshake thing,” Roman said as he resituated himself, laughter still lingering in his voice.

Virgil didn’t answer, but he bumped their shoulders together. They watched the sky together in silence for a while, huddling close together as the chill settled into their bones.

“What’d you bring?” Virgil eventually asked.

“Oh! The thermos has hot chocolate and in the tupperware are some sugar cookies Patton made earlier, he wanted me to share them with you.”

Virgil smiled and immediately reached for the tupperware. “Make sure to thank him for me?”

“Of course.”

They lapsed back into quiet as they snacked on cookies and shared the hot cocoa. As he decided he was finished with the treats, he felt the urge to lay his head against Roman’s shoulder, but he was too anxious to go through with it. He settled for pulling the blankets closer around him.

“Do you have a favorite star or constellation?” Virgil asked.

Roman chuckled nervously. “Afraid I don’t know much about astronomy, darling. I can’t even find the Big Dipper.”

“Actually, the Big Dipper isn’t even a constellation, it’s an asterism. The Big Dipper is part of the constellation Ursa Major, which -- sorry, I sound like Logan.”

Roman was smiling at him. “No, no, I like it. Nerdy Virgil is cute--”

“I am absolutely not cute.”

“Totally are, but that’s besides the point. What got you into astronomy? I don’t know if you ever told me.”

Virgil wished he didn’t need the gloves on at that moment so that he could mess with his worry stone. “Um, my mom.”

Roman shifted next to him, but Virgil didn’t turn to look. He glanced down at the blanket before turning his face back up to the sky.

“My mom loved astronomy. She wanted to keep it as a hobby because she was worried that having it for a job would sick the fun out of it. We used to go stargazing all the time before she died, and we took Logan with us a lot, too. He and I do it when we can, now. To remember her.”

Roman wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Virgil held back a flinch at the unexpected touch, but he relaxed in the body next to him.

“What was your mom’s name?”

“Alissia.” Virgil’s voice was barely audible, but it still cracked. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Alissia Bunker.”

“She sounds wonderful.”

“She was.”

Roman rubbed his shoulder comfortingly and Virgil blinked rapidly at the sky.

“She, uh, she had this joke she used to tell,” he said, wiping his eyes with his sleeves.

Roman hummed, prompting him to continue.

“I guess it’d be a little hard to understand without some astronomy knowledge, and explaining a joke kind of ruins it and makes it not as funny…”

“No, no, I want to hear it.”

“The, um, the joke depends on the person knowing that Sirius is the brightest star in the sky.”

“Like, the Harry Potter character, Sirius Black?”

“Yeah, spelled like that.”

Virgil allowed a small smile to form on his face and looked to his side at Roman. The look Roman was giving him was so intensely fond that he almost had to look away again.

“So it goes, I say, ‘Hey, what’s the brightest star in the sky?’”

Roman’s eyes lit up and Virgil knew he immediately understood where the joke was going. “Are you  _ Sirius _ ?” He replied gleefully, starting to laugh.

Virgil grinned, finally working up the courage to lean his head on Roman’s shoulder. “Got it in one, Princey.”

Roman laughed again. “Princey?”

“Has a nice ring to it.” He turned his smug grin up towards Roman.

Roman playfully scoffed with a wide grin, bumping his knees against Virgil’s. “Yeah, okay,” he said sarcastically, but pulled Virgil closer.

There were a few more minutes of content silence before Roman nudged their knees together again. “Hey, where  _ is _ Sirius?”

Virgil sat up and frowned in concentration. “It’s December so it  _ should _ be out…”

“What direction?”

“South. It’ll be near Orion.”

Roman chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, uh, I don’t know how to find Orion.”

Virgil rose to his knees and smiled down at Roman. “Don’t worry, I’ll show you. And it’s a really recognizable one, too.” Virgil found it and pointed excitedly. “There! See! Orion is a winter constellation, the easiest way to find him is to find his belt. Those three stars right there, see?”

Roman lit up. “Yeah! Yeah, I see it!”

“I can never remember the stars in the belt but up there in his left shoulder is Betelgeuse, and his right foot right there is Rigel. Those stars are generally more well-known, too.”

“How do we find Sirius?” Roman leaned closer to put his chin on Virgil’s shoulder.

“If you trace down at an angle from his left hip you’ll see Sirius is right… there!”

Virgil grinned brightly and kept his finger pointing while he looked over to Roman. Roman looked like he was in awe.

“Virgil, this is amazing!”

Virgil shrugged with a smile, settling back down into their blanket cocoon. “Brightest star in the sky is always pretty cool.”

Roman shook his head and snuggled back up to Virgil in the blankets. “No, I mean, you’re so smart, it’s amazing.”

Virgil fidgeted with his gloved fingers and resisted the urge to rub the back of his neck. “Not that smart or amazing. Logan could’ve told you every star in the constellation.”

“So?”

Virgil opened and closed his mouth a few times, unsure to answer.

“You’re smart. Just accept that you’re a nerd.”

“Am not!”

“Are too! The most adorable nerd there ever was! Nerdiest emo cutie pie in the world!”

Virgil was fighting to hold his laughter in. “Fuck off,” he said, though he was smiling brightly. “Or I’ll actually push you off the car this time.”

Roman laughed heartily and leaned  _ his _ head on  _ Virgil’s _ shoulder. “I’ll get you to admit it someday.”

“In your dreams,” Virgil scoffed.”

Roman huffed out a last laugh and pulled out his phone to check the time. It was late.  _ Very _ late.

“We should get home.”

Virgil sighed. “I guess.”

“C’mon, I’ll get the blankets and stuff back in the car.”

They slid off the hood and folded the blankets together. Roman tossed them in the backseat while Virgil climbed into the passenger seat and pulled the scarf back over his face. He took the gloves and hat off.

“Top down?” Roman asked, starting the car.

Virgil nodded.

Roman revved the engine with a wild and lopsided smile. “Yes, sir.”

They sped down the long road again, Virgil letting the wind pull at him. He grinned and closed his eyes as they went through the dips, letting his stomach swoop and his body fly.

“We’ll have to come out here a lot more,” Roman said as they came across the last (or, now, first) stoplight at the edge of town. “You seemed to enjoy breaking the law.”

Virgil snorted.

During the ride back to the Beste’s house, Virgil found his eyes constantly drawn to Roman. He seemed relaxed while driving, one hand on the wheel and one on the console between them. In a moment of bravery, Virgil grabbed it.

Roman immediately brightened, shooting a brief glance at Virgil to give him a blinding smile before turning his eyes back to the road.

Virgil bit his lip as he watched Roman, confident and in control, shadows from the street lamps playing off his strong jawline and cheekbones. A thought occurred to Virgil and he was glad the scarf was covering his face to hide his sly grin. 

Roman liked catching candids? Two could play at that game.

He sneaked his phone out of his pocket without Roman noticing. Virgil pulled up his camera app and made certain the flash was off before finding a good angle to catch Roman at and still get their clasped hands in the frame. He sneakily put his phone away after getting a couple of shots.

Roman parked the car down the street, just like he had before the date. He turned the car off and turned toward Virgil, squeezing his hand.

“Can I walk you to your d-- ah, window?” He corrected with a chuckle.

Virgil grinned bashfully under the scarf. “What a gentleman,” he said sarcastically.

Knowing what he knew now about how Roman liked to operate, Virgil let him get out of the car and run over to his side to open the door and help him out.

They hopped the wall around the backyard again and kept playfully shushing each other and shoving each other. Roman kept giggling under his breath, but Virgil swallowed his laughter down.

“I had fun tonight,” Roman whispered when they reached the window.

“So did I,” Virgil whispered back, barely audible through the scarf.

“I’ll, um, see you later.”

Virgil nodded, fiddling with the edge of the scarf. He looked back up at Roman.

“Happy birthday,” Roman whispered and started pulling away.

“Roman--” Virgil said, a little louder, but cut himself off.

Roman froze, raising an eyebrow and searching his face. “Yes?”

The first snow of the year started floating down around them.

_ Time to be brave, shithead _ , Virgil told himself.

He pulled the scarf down from his face and leaned over to peck Roman on the cheek. “Thank you,” he whispered against the skin and hastily slid through his window.

Virgil immediately sank down on the bed and pressed his back against the wall under the window. He bit his lip, trying to repress his insanely wide smile. He leaned his head back against the wall and just let the smile come.

He didn’t know how long he sat like that, grinning madly and shoulders occasionally shaking with silent giggles, before he was pulled out of his giddiness by his phone vibrating.

Roman had tagged him in an instagram post.

While it reminded Virgil that he still had to like (or even look at) the post from the previous day, he also wondered what Roman could have posted with him tonight. He figured he might as well open the app and check, and post  _ his _ pictures.

The second he opened instagram, the notification tab was bursting with numbers. He was suddenly very glad that he had the forethought to turn off most push notifications. He’d gained hundreds of followers practically overnight, probably all because of Roman’s posts.

He ignored the intimidating numbers for the moment and instead went to Roman’s account. There were two new posts featuring Virgil. The first one was their pictures from their first date, it was captioned:

** _yourprincecharming: _ ** _ Found my Cinderella _

Virgil rolled his eyes with a grin. He doubted that joke would die down anytime soon.

He checked the next post. The picture was obviously taken on their date that night. It looked like it was when Virgil was pointing out Orion. Virgil was merely a silhouette against a background of stars, his finger pointing off in a direction. The caption read:

** _yourprincecharming:_ ** _ Happy birthday, darling! _

Virgil couldn’t even find it in himself to be mad that he posted the picture without asking, the gesture was too sweet.

But there was no doubt that Virgil’s influx of followers, despite having an empty page, was because of his account being tagged in the pictures.

He might as well give his new followers something to look at.

Virgil chose two of the pictures that he had taken in the car. One where Roman was simply relaxed in the driver’s seat, eyes calm and on the road, one hand on the wheel and one visibly clasped with Virgil’s on the center console. The second one had them in the same positions, but Roman was glancing over at Virgil with pure adoration in his eyes (and somehow hadn’t noticed the camera). He tagged Roman’s account and captioned it:

** _youremonightmare: _ ** _ two can play the candid game, princey _

Barely a minute later, Roman commented:

** _yourprincecharming: _ ** _ HOW DID YOU TAKE THOSE WITHOUT ME NOTICING??! _

Virgil snorted out a laugh. Seconds later, Roman posted a reply to his own comment.

** _yourprincecharming: _ ** _ You’re on. _

Virgil liked both comments, but didn’t reply. He plugged in his phone to charge and flopped onto his bed, cocooning himself in his blankets.

He fell asleep with a smile on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! I don't have enough time with the internet to do that whole link business, but you can find me on tumblr at sociallyawkward--fics! Look forward to next chapter, my beta says she was laughing up a storm lol.
> 
> (Speaking of beta, I guess newer readers wouldn't know, but the amazing person who betas all my fics, and has since I started writing fic like four years ago or something, is museofdemons on tumblr! She's amazing and wonderful and we all adore her!)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so focused on NaNoWriMo prep that I forgot I had to post today until my phone went off lol, but I hope you enjoy this!!
> 
> Also I'm stressed because this is my last prewritten chapter and there are three Saturday updates in November so I gotta work around all my nanowrimo prep and finish 3-4 chapters before October ends whoops lol, this is what I get for slacking the past month lol
> 
> But I hope you enjoy!! All of you keep commenting stuff like "omg it's all so happy I don't trust it, it has to go wrong next chapter" and I'm living, I'm gonna drag this out as long as possible so that y'all will never expect if or when the angst will come lol
> 
> (Also PS, you may have noticed I updated the tags, that's mostly just stuff that's coming to mind for the future, I don't know if any of those new tags apply yet during this chapter? But I am bad at tagging and hardly pay attention to my own work so who knows lol)
> 
> ALSO also I just remembered that this is a very OC-heavy chapter, but just because it's for like,,,,, later on. I know not everyone digs OCs, but hopefully they're likable enough that you can tolerate how much I use them in my stories lol. It's a little hard cuz like, I only use the four main sides and sometimes Cartoon Therapy characters so when I do AUs, stuff kind of HAS to be OC-heavy, but I hope it's not intolerable lol

Virgil tapped his fingers nervously on his thighs, trying to ignore the glances Roman kept shooting him from the driver’s seat. Of  _ course _ he was anxious and internally freaking out, he was taking  _ Roman _ to  _ The Insomniac _ . He was openly inviting a jock to interact with a bunch of traumatized kids who looked at Roman and saw immediate and imminent danger.

“Alright,” Roman said, voice firm. “You’re obviously losing it over there, so give me the rules.”

Virgil looked at him, started. “What?”

Roman softened once Virgil’s attention was on him. “Sorry, didn’t mean to use that voice. It’s just… you’re really nervous about this for some reason, so tell me what I should and shouldn’t do to avoid conflict.”

Virgil brought a hand up to bite at his nails. “I--I don’t know? And I’m not gonna control how you can act.”

Roman shook his head. “I didn’t mean like that. And, well, like, the kids all have tough lives, right, like you? Trust issues? I think you mentioned that in your nervous rambling when I said I wanted to do this, so what topics should I avoid?”

Virgil switched out chewing his nails for rubbing his worry stone. “Uh, well, I don’t know all of the regulars as well as I’d like. Not like Maisey, they’re amazing at getting to know all these kids so well. There’s probably one group of them that will want to monopolize your time, the kids I’ve gotten to know the best.”

“Okay. What do I avoid doing or saying to keep them comfortable?”

Virgil took a few moments to think. “Alice, don’t touch her shoulders. And you have a deeper voice, so try not to raise it. Nicholas, don’t use any nickname variations. Not Nick, not Nicky, nothing. And he’s mute, I don’t know if it’s selective or not, he’ll tell me in his own time, if at all, but don’t expect words from him.

“Don’t mention how deep Esperanza’s voice is, she knows and doesn’t want to hear it again or even think about it. If Morgan starts info-dumping, let them and don’t make fun. Don’t even interrupt, they’ll clam up immediately because people have trained them to think their interests are worthless.”

Roman nodded, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel as he took in the information. “Okay. I think I got it.”

Virgil closed his eyes and took a deep breath to center himself.

When Roman had texted him saying he wanted an “official introduction” to his “Insomniac family,” Virgil had immediately tried to convince him it was a bad idea. Even after Roman constantly proving himself to not be like other people in his social group, the regulars in the Insomniac weren’t the type to take kindly to  _ any _ sort of “popular” personality.

Not to mention that, as good as he was, Roman could sometimes act or speak without thinking things through. With all the trauma and trust issues whirling around the people at the Insomniac, it could get Roman into trouble or make a kid feel like they no longer had a safe place to hide out.

But Virgil gave in (he  _ swore _ to never let Roman find out how much “please, for me?” could truly sway him) and now they were on their way to one of the only places Virgil felt welcomed. Well, for now, at least.

And at least he’d convinced Roman to ditch the letterman jacket for the day.

At the next red light, Roman turned towards Virgil with a sly grin.

“Oh no,” Virgil said without thinking. “My dumbass senses are tingling.”

Roman threw back his head and laughed so hard that he almost missed the light turning green. “I love it when your brain is so focused on something else that it forgets it’s supposed to give you a filter.”

“Shut up, stop reading me so well, you’ve known me for, like, five days.”

“I’ve known your life story since September, shut it. Also, I figured out who you were  _ four _ days ago. Wow, what a terrible boyfriend, can’t even remember our four-day anniversary.”

Virgil scoffed, fighting down a smile. “If you weren’t driving, I’d shove you. Maybe out the window.”

Roman laughed again. “No, okay, but I was gonna ask, what are relationship boundaries for, like, PDA and nicknames and stuff.”

Virgil frowned. “I mean, it’s not like we do much of that, right? We’ve had two dates and barely anything’s happened.”

“What if I spend our time there giving you more and more ridiculous nicknames the longer we’re there.”

Virgil snorted. “Yeah? Like what?”

“Well, I could call you ‘sugar’ like that Bill guy.”

Virgil wrinkled his nose and Roman laughed.

“I call you stuff like ‘darling’ and ‘dearheart’ already. I could pull out ‘sugar booger’ or ‘carebear.’ Maybe ‘boo bear,’ ‘love bug,’ ‘dreamboat.’”

“Oh my gosh,” Virgil groaned, covering his face with his hoodie-covered hands. “Please don’t.” He dropped his hands to give Roman a fake glare.

“Love muffin, tater tot, thunder cat--”

“Roman.”

“--honeybun, cutie patootie, doodlebug, gummy bear--”

“What the hell?!”

“--muscleman, pudding pop, cowboy--”

Virgil was barely keeping the laughter at bay. “Roman, stop!”

“--kitty, cherry pie, beef cake, stud muffin, sugar lips--”

“Did you  _ Google _ these, or are you just that disgusting?”

“--huggy bear, wookie bear, babykins--”

“How many do you  _ have _ ?”

“--doodle bear, punky pie, knee melter, hot candy--”

“Roman!”

Roman looked over and made direct eye contact. “Big Papa.”

Virgil made a strangled, embarrassed noise in his throat and covered his face again. Roman laughed heartily. After a moment, Virgil dropped his hands to reveal the smile he’d been fighting down the whole time.

“I know a nickname for you,” he said smugly, crossing his arms.

“Oh yeah? What’s that, then?”

“Yeah. Fuckhead.”

Roman was thrown into laughter again. When he calmed down, he glanced at Virgil and hummed.

“What?” Virgil asked with mock-suspicion, still grinning.

“Well, obviously we have to work up to the ultimate nickname of ‘Big Papa’ over our time there, so we should start with the most casual sort of name.”

Virgil raised an expectant eyebrow, fighting down more laughter at ‘Big Papa.’

“So, what nicknames can we make out of your name? Maisey calls you V-dog. We could do Virge. Maybe Virgie--”

Virgil’s smile dropped and he immediately felt sick to his stomach. The car suddenly felt too small.

“Virgil?”

Virgil couldn’t look over at Roman. He could hear him calling, but the screaming in his head demanded more attention. He gripped any part of the car he could wrap his hands around and hyperventilated.

“Hang on, darling.”

Virgil felt the car pull off into a parking lot. With unfocused eyes, he caught a glimpse of an abandoned storefront.

“Hey, Virgil, what can I do?”

Virgil shook his head. He didn’t know, he didn’t know. His head was just repeating  _ Virgie _ over and over in Kameron’s voice. Remembering all the things she’d  _ done _ to him. All the things she made him  _ do _ .

“ _ Virgil _ .” Roman touched Virgil’s shoulder.

Virgil, not expecting the touch and still focused on Kameron, flinched back violently. Roman’s hand flew off him and he curled up in a ball in the passenger seat the best he could.

He saw Roman move again out of the corner of his eye and instinctively started watching him like a hawk through the curtain of his hair. His view was broken up by the strands, but Virgil was used to interpreting the world through his hair.

Roman was only pulling out his phone, but Virgil didn’t relax. He stopped watching and squeezed his eyes shut, digging his nails into his scalp.

“Virgil. Virgil, I need you to listen to me.”

Virgil shook his head, curling up more.

“Hey, no, come on. Can you look up for me?”

Virgil choked down a few shallow breaths and tilted his head up just enough for his eyes to peek over the barrier of his arms and legs.

“Awesome, darling. Can you name five things you can see for me?”

Virgil furrowed his brow. He recognized the method. That must have been what Roman was doing on his phone, looking up how to help. He’d never used it himself, but it was worth a shot. He frantically glanced around.

“Uh, you. The abandoned K-mart. Traffic. That Burger King. A street lamp.”

“Amazing, sweetheart. Can you tell me four things you can hear?”

Virgil blinked a few times. “Cars driving. The radio you left on that stupid pop station. You breathing. The wind.”

“You’re doing  _ so _ well, three things you can feel?”

“Uh, my jacket? The seat. And--and, um--”

Roman slowly reached over to grab his hand and squeeze it. Virgil didn’t flinch.

“--and you.”

“Two things you can smell?”

Virgil’s breaths were coming much easier, but his thoughts were still racing. “The donut you were eating when you picked me up. And… are you wearing cologne?”

Roman chuckled softly. “It’s my deodorant, good nose. Last one, dearheart, one thing you can taste.”

“The aftertaste of that croissant you brought me this morning.”

“You did so well, my darling! How are you feeling now?”

Virgil took a shaky but deep breath. “Better. Sorry.”

Roman shook his head. “Nothing to apologize for. Do you know what caused it?”

Virgil squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before opening them and avoiding Roman’s eyes. “Kameron calls me Virgie,” he whispered.

Roman reached over to brush away tears that Virgil didn’t even know were there. “Darling, I’m  _ so _ sorry.”

Virgil shrugged and started pulling down the sunshade to look in the mirror on the back. “I honestly didn’t know it bothered me that much. It makes my skin crawl when she calls me that, but no one else ever has. You kind of have to train yourself to feel nothing when interacting with people like my stepfamily. They’ll prey on any emotion even hinted at.”

Roman rubbed his shoulder. “You’ve said they were cruel to you, and I’ve seen some of it, but I don’t think you’ve gone into it all that much.”

Virgil shrugged again. “I don’t like to relive it.”

Roman ran a hand through Virgil’s hair before pulling the car out of the lot and back onto the road.

Virgil groaned when he saw his reflection in the mirror. His eye makeup was smeared all over his face and smudged down his cheeks in dark trails. It looked like even some of his foundation had been rubbed away.

“Shit,” he muttered, rubbing at the trails of makeup.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Roman tried gently.

Virgil shook his head. “I keep emergency makeup in the employee room, anyway. But that means I have to walk in looking like  _ this _ ,  _ and _ I’ll have to leave you alone for a while.”

Roman shrugged. “That’s fine, I’m sure I can handle a few minutes on my own.”

Virgil closed the sunshade and sighed, turning toward Roman. He didn’t  _ want _ to have this conversation, but Roman needed to know what he was getting into. 

“They’re going to blame you,” he said gently. “They’ll think you did something to me.”

Roman gripped the steering wheel a little tighter, rolling his shoulders a little. “And if they do? What do I tell them?”

Virgil considered it for a moment. “You can say I had an attack and you talked me down. If they asked again, I’ll handle it when I’m done.”

Roman nodded and relaxed somewhat. “It’s gonna be fine,” he said.

Virgil snorted humorlessly. “Are you telling me or yourself?”

Roman glanced over and gave him a tight smile. “Both.”

Virgil tried to relax for the both of them. “It’s gonna be fine,” he repeated, and Roman’s smile turned a little more real.

They parked outside the Insomniac and Roman hesitated in the car for a moment. He kept his hands on the steering wheel and rubbed his thumbs against the leather.

“So Logan’s taking the bus here later?” He asked.

Virgil nodded. “He appreciated the offer for a ride, but he had stuff to finish at home and didn’t want to, as he said, ‘witness the disgusting flirting’ on his own.”

Roman laughed, though the sound was still tinged with nerves.

“You said Patton wanted to join in, too?”

“Yeah, he wants to get to know you and Logan better. He’ll be here after he finishes up his shift at work.”

Virgil nodded, wrapping his fingers around his legs and squeezing tightly for a moment.

Roman turned toward him, reaching for his hand. “I know I was pushing for it, but we don’t have to do this today.”

“What, getting cold feet?” Virgil tried to tease.

It came out flat, but Roman chuckled anyway and shook his head, getting out of the car. Virgil waited patiently while Roman made his way around the car to open the passenger door. He took Roman’s offered hand and stood, neither letting go as they made their way through the door.

The moment they entered, Morgan stood, cupped their hands around their mouth, and shouted, “ _ Shovel Talk _ !!” They received more than a few glares.

Virgil’s free hand went up to his ear. “What the fuck, kid? The building’s not that damn big.”

So much for trying to sneak into the employee room unnoticed.

Virgil rolled his eyes and dropped Roman’s hand. “Right, have fun, Ro,” he said and fled to the employee room.

As he went, he heard Roman whisper behind him, “He called me Ro,” and felt his face warm.

Virgil left the door cracked as he wiped the ruined makeup off and started reapplying a more simple look.

“Prince,” he heard Maisey day, scarily level, “you broke my best friend’s heart once, accident as it may have been. Mind explaining the  _ fucking _ tear tracks?”

Roman stuttered for a moment and Virgil could imagine him holding up his hands in surrender. “He--he had some sort of attack in the car? I helped him through it the best I could, but, uh, yeah, tears.”

Maisey was silent for a moment before saying, “I will be corroborating that story.”

Virgil brought the eyeliner away from his eyes so he could roll them. “Fuck  _ off _ , Mai, it’s the truth,” he shouted.

“Fuck off, stop eavesdropping!”

Virgil marched over to the door and stuck his face out for a moment, unfinished makeup be damned. Maisey had taken an aggressive stance behind the counter, arms crossed tightly and blue button nearly being crushed beneath them. Roman still stood nervously by the door.

“He’s  _ my _ boyfriend, for fucks sake! Quit grilling him! Roman, stop looking like a spooked deer and sit the hell down already.”

Virgil backed into the employee room again and went back to finishing his makeup, still eavesdropping.

“Dang,” he heard Esperanza say, “he used the  _ B _ word. He must  _ really _ like you.”

Roman started sputtering.

“Shut up!” Virgil shouted.

“No, you!” Esperanza called back. “Come here, Roman, come sit with us.”

The conversation started getting more hushed and too quiet for Virgil to eavesdrop on through the door so he rushed to finish the last of his makeup, smearing the dark lipstick against his lips the best he could and rushing out. Roman was sitting at a table with Alice, Nicholas, Morgan, and Esperanza. Maisey was standing over the table, slightly less aggressive but arms still crossed.

He grabbed Maisey’s shoulder as he approached and shook it a little. “Calm down, Maze. He’s harmless.”

Roman turned with a raised eyebrow.

“And as for  _ you _ ,” Virgil said to Roman before he could get a word out.

Before Virgil could talk himself out of it, he leaned over to kiss Roman’s cheek, pressing his lips slightly harder against the skin than he normally would. He secretly relished in the feeling of Roman’s cheek heating up under his lips. He pulled back after a few moments.

There was a satisfying black lipstick mark against Roman’s cheekbone.

“ _ That _ is for what happened in the car. Good luck wiping it off.”

Roman furrowed his brow, blinking rapidly and touching a hand to his cheek. Then Virgil’s words seemed to process and he pulled out his phone, opening the camera to selfie mode. He gave a short laugh, angling the phone to get Virgil in the background and snapped a quick picture before putting his phone on the table.

“And  _ which _ part was that for?”

Virgil flopped in the chair next to Roman, subtly trying to scoot it closer to his in the process. “You sure you want me to tell everyone here about your daddy kink? I mean, you don’t even know them yet.”

Roman choked on air and everyone around let out startled laughter.

“ _ Babe _ ,” Roman said (and  _ that _ was a new one), voice strangled, “what the  _ fuck _ ?”

Virgil shrugged. “I’m not the one who said ‘big papa.’”

Morgan was cackling at that point, and Nicholas was obviously trying to keep his laughter silent behind his hand. Esperanza had dissolved into snorting giggles, leaning against Morgan’s shoulder, and even Maisey had doubled over in laughter. Alice, though, took after Virgil far too much and was fighting (and not quite winning) to keep her straight face.

“I did that to be funny, I was trying to help you calm down!” Roman’s voice wavered with underlying laughter.

Virgil smirked and hummed.

“I can’t believe, betrayed by own boyfriend.”

“ _ I _ can’t believe you didn’t see this coming.”

Alice startled them all with a loud snort.

“Sorry,” she said, laughter in her voice. “I just always forget you guys texted for months before, but then you start doing that and it becomes so obvious.”

Roman then snorted as well, slowly wrapping an arm around Virgil’s shoulders “I think we do too, honestly.”

Maisey finally pulled a chair up to the table and sat. “So we didn’t get to even start the real shovel talk before Virgil so rudely interrupted,” he said,”so I guess now we have to do it with a witness.”

Virgil sighed. “Don’t threaten him, I can do that all on my own.”

Roman shrugged. “He’s not wrong.”

Esperanza leaned on the table. “No, we’re doing it!” She said cheerfully.

Nicholas signed something rapidly and Morgan translated. “He says that if you hurt Virgil there’ll be hell to pay.”

“You’re too young to threaten people,” Virgil grumbled, crossing his arms.

“No we’re not,” Alice shot back. “And if you mess up, they’re never find your body.”

Virgil groaned, burying his face in his hands, giving up.

“We’ll be keeping a very close eye on you two,” Morgan said in the most level voice he’d ever heard them use.

“If Virgil gets hurt, we’ll  _ know _ ,” Esperanza said.

“So treat him right, Prince,” Maisey finished. “Or you won’t live to regret it.”

Virgil raised his head back up. “Are you  _ done _ ?!”

Maisey snorted. “Looks like the foundation you keep here doesn’t have as good of coverage as your usual.”

Virgil’s eyes went wide and his hand shot up to touch his burning cheek.

Roman glanced over and chuckled affectionately. “You really are quite adorable in pink, darling.”

“Shut up,” Virgil grumbled.

The group chatted for a few minutes, just small talk, really. Virgil tuned most of it out. Then, he heard a sudden realization.

“We need a plan,” Virgil said, slamming his hand down on the table.

Half the kids jumped and Virgil winced apologetically.

“Plan for  _ what _ ?” Maisey asked.

Roman’s eyes widened in realization. “Logan likes him too?!”

“Yes, and I’m sick of the pining. I don’t know how they ever dealt with us.”

Maisey leaned forward in interest. “No fucking way, why are all of you such useless gays?”

Roman let out a short laugh. “Is that a rhetorical question?”

“Disasters. All of you.”

“Okay, what  _ are _ we making a plan for?” Alice asked impatiently. “I love scheming, I want in.”

“Getting our best friends together,” Roman said, taking his arm away from around Virgil’s shoulders to lean forward on the table conspiratorially.

Almost instinctively, surprising even himself, Virgil also leaned forward over the table, looping his arm through one of Roman’s to plaster himself against Roman’s side. Maisey and Esperanza raised their eyebrows but didn’t comment.

“If we don’t get Logan a boyfriend he’s going to complain about us at every turn,” Virgil said.

“And if we don’t get Patton a boyfriend he’ll coo at us constantly and follow us around with a camera for all those ‘cute couple pictures,’” Roman said.

Virgil rolled his eyes. “You already do that, sap.”

Roman leaned further into his space. “Yeah, multiply me by, like,  _ ten _ .”

“Gross, they have to date.”

“Any ideas?”

Maisey sat back, a single eyebrow raised. “I cover the cafe in mistletoe.”

“Absolutely not,” Roman sand Virgil said in sync.

“Seven minutes in heaven,” Morgan said with an eyebrow waggle.

“Absolutely not.”

“Spin the bottle,” Esperanza said cheekily, grinning and crossing her arms.

“Absolutely not.”

“Lock them in a room until they get over themselves and make out,” Alice suggested, going back to her book with a bored expression.

“ _ Absolutely _ not.”

Maisey rolled his eyes. “You two need to stop talking in unison.”

Roman and Virgil smirked. “Absolutely not.”

Before anyone could respond, the bell above the front door jingled. Virgil loosened his grip on Roman slightly and felt Roman do the same, just enough so that they could pull away slightly and look over at the door. A bouncy Patton was dragging Logan into the coffee shop by the arm.

“Look who I found on the bus!” Patton chirped excitedly.

Logan merely adjusted his glasses and glared at the smirk Virgil sent his way. He cleared his throat and tugged on his earlobe.

“Pat, Logan!” Roman called out joyfully, standing and gesturing dramatically at the table. “Come join us!”

Logan started toward the table slowly, eyes narrowed and searching. “Why were you all wearing your conspiring faces?”

Everyone wiped their face to a blank and innocent expression in an instant. Virgil covered his mouth to hold back a laugh. Logan raised an obviously amused eyebrow and hummed.

Patton darted toward the table and started excitedly and loudly introducing himself to everyone. All the kids at the table (and throughout the cafe) suddenly looked very on-edge from all the noise. Virgil sat up straight, the nervous tension in the room spiking his own anxiety.

Roman immediately looked down and gently touched Virgil’s shoulder, as if he’d sensed Virgil move.

“Darling?” He asked, quiet enough that no one else would hear him.

Virgil gestured as subtly as he could at the other people in the room and nodded at Patton. Roman’s eyes widened in understanding and he immediately started walking forward.

“Patton! Help me get some drinks, will you?”

Patton glanced up in surprise. “Oh! Sure thing, kiddo!”

Maisey darted up toward the counter in front of them. “V-dog, come help,” he called. “I know they’re getting that coffee only you can make.”

Virgil speed-walked past them, hearing Roman explaining something to Patton in hushed tones. He slid over the counter and spun around to face them. Roman had an unpleasant look on his face.

“I still think that’s unsanitary,” he said.

Virgil raised and eyebrow and shrugged. “Get used to it.”

Roman rolled his eyes but smiled. “Does Logan drink that cinnamon coffee, too?”

Virgil nodded and started making the coffees.

“And I’m paying for all four, no arguments.”

Virgil frowned as he made the drinks. “I thought we were switching off.”

Roman leaned over the counter with a grin. “Oh, why Virgil, is this a date?”

Virgil’s traitorous heart fluttered, but the look he gave Roman was unimpressed. “Don’t flirt on our counter,” he said. “I think that’s more hygienic than jumping over it.”

Maisey burst out in loud laughter. Next to Roman, Patton covered his mouth to giggle lightly, as if he wasn’t sure if it was an okay joke to laugh at.

Virgil placed the four mugs on the counter. “I’m paying for at  _ least _ two of these.”

Roman pouted. “ _ Please _ ?” He said. “I  _ swear _ I’ll let you pay for the next one.”

They entered a staring contest, Virgil’s eyes were narrowed while Roman’s were wide and pleading. They stayed like that for a few moments before Roman cheated, taking Virgil’s hand and bringing it to his lips to kiss the knuckles.

Virgil took his hand back and crossed his arms, quickly turning around so no one could see the bright blush shining through his foundation. Roman laughed behind him. Virgil jumped as he felt arms wrap around his middle and even though Roman was tall, Virgil was embarrassed to think about how far he must of leaned over the counter to do that.

“Thank you, dearheart!”

“Fuck off, sap.”

Roman laughed again and pulled back.

They gathered up the drinks and carefully started making their way back to the table. Patton nudged him carefully as they walked.

“Hey, sorry I freaked everyone out.” He chuckled nervously. “I tend to get overexcited, but Roman said that the people here don’t do well with loud noises or voices, especially if they don’t recognize them. I’ll do my best to keep it down.”

Virgil nodded and whispered back a quick, “Thanks.”

They sat back down with the kids and Virgil decided to just sit back and observe.

Roman was great with the kids, and while he didn’t want to be surprised by that, he was. Roman listened intently as they talked and encouraged conversation out of the quieter ones like Alice and Nicholas (even if Morgan had to translate). Virgil wasn’t sure if he was doing it intentionally, but Roman’s body language seemed deliberately unthreatening, surely giving him points in the books of his Insomniac crew (and maybe in Virgil’s book, too, but Virgil was trying to stop counting the days until Roman messed up, that wasn’t fair to either of them so he quickly dismissed the thought).

Patton, after being informed of the general anxiety of the populace, seemed to be a lot more observant. He would make quiet(er) conversation with the kids, backing off instantly at the barest signs that they were getting anxious or uncomfortable. He really was much smarter than people gave him credit for. Though Virgil had to bite down a smile whenever he interacted with Logan. It couldn’t be more obvious that the two were infatuated with each other, obvious to anyone but them.

Logan, for his part, was a complete fumbling  _ mess _ , as good as he was at hiding it. Every time when Patton looked at him, Logan made the face he always made whenever he was blushing. His words came out strained and he couldn’t stop staring at Patton.

He and Roman really needed to get those dumbasses together because there was no way Logan would do it himself.

Virgil leaned against Roman with a sigh, subconsciously nuzzling his face into Roman’s arm. He closed his eyes and let the sounds of the cafe lull him into a contented peace.

He could really get used to this.

(Virgil quickly shoved the thought of “he hoped he’d be given the chance to get used to this” away, not wanting it to ruin his wonderful moment).

Later, Roman and Virgil sat in Roman’s car (Patton and Logan had  _ chosen _ to take the bus together), holding hands as Roman drove them around aimlessly to give them more time together (and avoid Virgil having to go back to the Beste’s). Roman squeezed his hand and shot him an entirely too fond look.

“How do you think today went?” Roman asked gently.

Virgil couldn’t hold back his smile. “Good,” he said as nonchalantly as he could manage.

Roman glanced over at him and a bright grin spread over his features. “Yeah?”

Virgil had to bite his lip as his grin grew wider. “Yeah.”

Roman giggled a little, almost like he couldn’t stop the sound from bubbling out before it did. He brought their entangled hands to his lips to kiss Virgil’s, but he was smiling so wide that it was really just pressing his grin to the back of it.

Virgil gnawed on his lip for a few more minutes before Roman dropped his hand to pull Virgil’s lip out from between his teeth. He wrapped Virgil’s hand back up in his own, rubbing his thumb over the skin.

“Everything okay?” Roman asked.

Virgil looked over at him. His were relaxed, his hand was warm. That dumb lipstick mark was still on his face because he was too much of a sap to try and wipe it off. He kept shooting adoring glances at Virgil.

As childish as it felt, Virgil had to say it. “I really like you.”

Roman’s face split back into that impossibly wide grin. “I really like you, too.”

“No, Roman, I -- I  _ really _ like you.”

Roman pulled the car off to the side of whatever back road they were on and laughed gently. “And I  _ really _ like you, too, Virgil. We’re literally dating. Where is this coming from?”

Virgil was smiling again, too. “I don’t know. I just needed you to know.”

Roman laughed again, leaning over the center console to cup Virgil’s face in his hands. He brushed against his cheekbones in what might’ve been the gentlest touch Virgil had ever felt.

“Well, I know,” Roman said as he leaned forward to press their foreheads together. “And I need you to know, too.”

Virgil bit his lip to try and control his grin again, looking into Roman’s smiling green eyes.

“Well, I know,” Virgil repeated Roman’s words back to him, swallowing down a giddy laugh.

Roman was suddenly pressing little pecks of kisses all over Virgil’s face. His forehead, his cheeks, his temples, his chin,  _ everywhere _ . The giggles built up in Virgil’s chest and throat until they grew too strong and he couldn’t hold them back anymore. Roman pressed one last kiss to the very tip of his nose and pulled away, lit up like the sun.

“I have never heard you laugh before,” he said breathlessly, “and I think it’s my new favorite sound in the whole entire world.”

Another bubbly giggle tumbled through Virgil’s lips and he leaned forward to bury his face in Roman’s chest. Roman wrapped his arms around Virgil’s shoulders and squeezed just the  _ perfect _ amount.

“Holy fucking shit, please never hide your laugh again.”

Virgil let out a real, full laugh that time, not just a little giggle. He felt Roman lean more weight into him, almost as if he was swooning. He raised his face from Roman’s chest to grin at him.

“Okay,” he said quietly. “Never again. Not from you.”

Roman’s eyes filled with an emotion Virgil couldn’t place as he pulled Virgil as close as he could without either of them crawling over the console. He started peppering Virgil’s face with kisses all over again and Virgil gave in, melting against Roman and giggling away to his heart’s content.

Yeah, he could get used to this. Yeah, he hoped he would be given the time to. But he also kind of hoped he  _ never _ got used to it.

He wanted these giddy butterflies and blushy cheeks and bubbly giggles to last forever.

Virgil hoped they would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, you're all awesome and I hope you enjoyed it! Next update will be on November 2nd! But also that day is a day I am at my local comic con with my beta/best friend and my little sister lol, so the chapter will either be VERY early or VERY late in that day. It'll go up, though!
> 
> Leave a comment and/or kudos if you want and I'll love you forever! Come visit me on tumblr at sociallyawkward--fics (I'd link it but my brain is dead and I gotta get back to nano prep and writing the next chapters so I don't wanna google how to do that for the 50th time because of my goldfish memory)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey sorry this is so late, i just got back to my housesitting job after my sister's engagement photoshoot and also i have to use my phone hotspot to upload this but my parents stole my charger, won't bring it back, and i'm already at 50% so no fun chatting today

“Hey,” Roman said when they’d finally gotten back to driving around aimlessly, “do you still need to do any Christmas shopping?”

Virgil scratched the back of his neck. “I… actually haven’t done any.”

Roman fell into a nervous ramble. “Shit, sorry. I don’t even know if you celebrate Christmas. Or do I? It’s hard to remember our text conversations sometimes. But either way I shouldn’t have assumed, that was a bad move on my part, and--”

“Roman,” Virgil said, letting a little laugh into his voice to show that it wasn’t serious, “take a breath.”

Roman sucked in a huge breath and exhaled on a chuckle. “Right, breathing.”

“I haven’t done any Christmas shopping yet because I haven’t really felt like celebrating much in  _ years _ . The Beste’s usually go off on vacation without me from a few days before Christmas Eve until after New Years.”

“You don’t want to celebrate, then?”

Virgil squeezed Roman’s hand with a smirk. “I think I’m ready to try again, this year. It’s just hard because I hate people spending money on me.”

Roman squeezed back. “Wanna group up for shopping, then? Patton and I were gonna head to the mall tomorrow, but considering tomorrow is just three days from Christmas, it’s gonna be pretty busy.”

Virgil shrugged. “I’ve got some money saved up. I’ll text Logan when I get back to the house and see if he wants to come.”

“Great!” Roman suddenly turned a sly grin on Virgil. “What shall we do in the meantime, then?”

Virgil reached into his pocket, suddenly realizing he’d accidentally taken his emergency lipstick from The Insomniac in his rush. He returned Roman’s grin, starting to put another coat on.

“I’ve got a couple ideas,” Virgil said.

Roman’s ears went red and he pulled off to the side of the road again. Virgil lunged.

If Roman was covered in dark lipstick marks from his forehead to his collarbone by the time he dropped Virgil off? Well, that was nobody’s business but their own.

(Until Roman texted him later that day to ask if he could post the picture from The Insomniac and his smooch-covered face. Virgil hesitantly consented and two minutes later, there was a new post on Roman’s instagram.

The first picture was from the Insomniac, Roman grinning at the camera with laughter in his eyes and a lipstick mark on his cheekbone; Virgil in the background, blank-faced with a raised eyebrow and lipstick that unmistakably matched the mark on Roman’s cheek. The second picture featured Roman still in his car, ears still pink, and face and neck still coated in kiss marks. He was smiling impossibly bright. The caption read:

** _yourprincecharming:_ ** _ get yourself a cute emo boyfriend _ )

Logan admitted that he  _ did _ still need to do some Christmas shopping, sounding somewhat annoyed with himself that he’d procrastinated it. A plan was made for Roman to pick up Patton first and then come get Virgil and Logan from the Beste’s house. Logan immediately went into a gay crisis and Virgil called him a disaster and immediately fell asleep, knowing it was just Logan being dramatic and not anything serious.

Virgil sneaked out his window the next morning (and he hated having to do that more and more because of the snow. He’d had to start digging out his window when the Beste’s weren’t looking to get out of it) and jogged to Logan’s house. The Boman’s, as always, welcomed him with open arms and shoved food in his face before heading off to work. Virgil absent-mindedly ate his bacon and eggs while watching Logan pace.

“We’re going shopping with Patton.  _ Patton _ . This is fine, this is absolutely fine, I--” Logan stopped in his tracks and looked down at his clothes. “This is absolutely not adequate. I have to change.” He started to make his way back to his bedroom.

Virgil reached out and grabbed his arm with an eyeroll. “I sincerely hope I was never this bad--”

“You were.”

“--  _ but _ , it’s going to be fine. I’m absolutely certain that he’s into you, and you should ask him out.  _ Plus _ , Lo, it’s  _ just _ the mall.”

Logan snorted. “Yeah, just the mall, where you and Roman are gonna fuck off to who knows where to make out and leave me with  _ Patton _ ,  _ alone _ \--”

Virgil flushed under his makeup. “We haven’t even kissed yet!”

“Still!”

Virgil took Logan by the shoulders and shook him a bit. “ _ Please _ , it’s just Christmas shopping, it’s  _ fine _ . Watch out, or you’ll start to sound like me.”

Logan’s crisis was cut short by a rhythmic knock at the door. Logan went stiff and Virgil rolled his eyes, dragging Logan to the front door by his arm.

“Chill out,” Virgil whispered, then approached the door.

He was immediately swept off his feet into a spinning bear hug, the smell of Roman’s hair products and deodorant entering his nose. Virgil relaxed into the hold and buried his nose into Roman’s shoulder to hide his schmoopy grin, still leaning most of his weight into Roman even when his feet were set back on the ground.

“Good morning, my darling,” Roman whispered in his ear, making him shiver. He pressed a kiss to Virgi’s cheekbone.

“Morning, sap,” Virgil replied, planting his own kiss to Roman’s cheek.

They turned back to their company, finding Logan smirking with crossed arms, leaning against the doorframe, and Patton with his phone out, making shutter sounds.

Virgil pointed at him. “I don’t want to see any of those online.”

Patton put his phone in his pocket and mimed zipping his lips.

Roman chuckled and wrapped his arm around Virgil’s shoulder, pulling him into his side. “Are we all set to go?”

After receiving three affirmatives, Roman turned them around and started moving toward the car. Virgil shivered in the cold (maybe instead of buying Christmas presents, he should’ve gone to the thrift store to get some  _ non _ -threadbare and falling apart winter clothes) and Roman pulled him closer, rubbing his arm.

“So, like, what’s my limit?” Roman asked.

Virgil shot him an odd look.

I mean, how many presents can I buy slash how much can I spend on you?”

Virgil sighed heavily. “You know I hate money being spent on me.”

“That’s why I’m asking.”

They stood off to the side, quieting for a moment as Patton and Logan climbed into the backseat of the car, having their own conversation.

Roman smiled down at Virgil. “You hate money being spent on you, and I love spending money on the people I -- people I care about. We’ve reached quite the stalemate.”

“It seems we have,” Virgil muttered, shooting a nervous glance down at the car as he wondered if their friends were annoyed about how long they were taking.

Roman took Virgil’s chin in his hand and turned his face back to his own. “So tell me what my limit is.”

Virgil screwed up his face in frustration. “I don’t  _ know _ .”

“Think about it, okay?”

Virgil shrugged. He allowed Roman to help him into the car (ignoring Logan’s raised eyebrows and teasing smile) and settled in for an awkward ride to the mall.

Patton and Roman filled the car with mindless chatter on the ride, while Logan and Virgil sat mainly in silence. He held Roman’s hand in the car, though, and every few minutes Roman would rub his thumb across Virgil’s skin in a soothing motion.

They arrived at the mall and Virgil, out of a quickly-forming habit, waiting for Roman to rush around the car and help him out. While Roman was making his way around the car, Logan leaned forward between the seats.

“Smitten,” he whispered to Virgil.

Virgil turned his head around and stuck his tongue out at Logan. Patton giggled, bringing Virgil’s attention back to the present company, and he quickly schooled his face back into something neutral.

Roman helped him out of the car and Logan and Patton followed. Roman held his hand while Virgil kept a careful eye out for anyone from school and the four made their way into the mall.

Virgil immediately got anxious about even that little bit of PDA the second they walked into the crowded mall, so he dropped Roman’s hand and curled further into his hoodie. He saw Roman shoot him a look out of the corner of his eye, but he just subtly shook his head and kept walking.

The four of them came across one of those giant standing maps of the mall and stopped.

“Where to first?” Roman asked.

“Splitting up may be wise,” Logan said, examining the map.

Patton’s face lit up. He bounced over to Virgil’s side and wrapped both of his arms around one of Virgil’s. “I call Virgil!” He chirped.

Virgil tensed and resisted the urge to rip his arm away. He did  _ not _ know Patton well enough for physical contact.

Roman simply looked confused. Logan almost looked upset.

Patton smiled at Virgil as he tried to carefully remove his arm from Patton’s grasp. “This way he can help me choose a present for Logan! We can meet back up after lunch and choose different groups, then!”

Roman shrugged. “Sounds good to me.” He turned toward Logan. “You cool with that?”

Logan met Virgil’s eyes. They had a silent conversation that went something along the lines of:

_ I trust him, you can too. _

_ Just because you are dating him doesn’t mean I’ll magically trust him _

_ Yeah? Well, same with Patton, but here I go. _

_ I don’t trust him, but I will try. _

_ Cool. _

“Yes,” Logan said. “That sounds satisfactory.”

Patton cheered. “Let’s go!”

He started rushing off in a direction. Virgil sent Logan and Roman a slightly panicked look before chasing after him.

“So, what are you getting Roman?” Patton asked once Virgil caught up to him.

Virgil fidgeted. “I--I don’t really know. I was hoping I’d know when I saw it.”

Patton shot him a grin “He’ll absolutely adore anything you give him!”

Virgil snorted. “You sure about that?” He asked sarcastically.

Patton turned around and gave him a startlingly sincere look. “Of course! He cares about you  _ so _ much!”

Virgil looked around and scratched the back of his neck, going silent.

After a few moments, Patton turned to him again. “So what kind of stuff does Logan like?”

Virgil shrugged, shoving his hands deep in his hoodie pockets. “Things with practical uses. Clothes, mugs, notebooks. Those sorts of things.”

Patton nodded. “There’s a store coming up here with catchy phrases and stuff on the stuff they sell.”

Virgil nodded and shrugged. “We can check it out.”

They walked into the store and Virgil was assaulted with colors and upbeat music. He wrinkled his nose and looked around. The “catchy phrases” Patton mentioned were just cheesy things (that company probably stole off the internet) and a few phrases from various fandoms.

Patton began bouncing around the store, flitting from shelf to shelf. Virgil approached a mug depicting a familiar spaceship.  _ Tea, Earl Gray, Hot _ . It looked like he was able to find Logan’s present rather quickly.

He jumped and almost dropped the mug when Patton practically materialized behind him. “Ooh, what’dya find? He likes Star Trek?”

“Uh, yeah. He loves it. His all-time favorite character is Data from  _ The Next Generation _ , but I think he’s more like Spock from  _ The Original Series _ .”

Patton giggled and started looking around the store again.

Virgil was at the counter, finishing up paying, when Patton bounced up to the counter with a Data FunkoPop figure. He beamed at Virgil and Virgil actually smiled back as he moved aside for Patton to pay.

They walked out of the store and Virgil once again had to face the fact that he had  _ no _ idea what to get Roman. He started fidgeting with his hands again. Patton bumped their shoulders together.

“Hey, Virge,” he said quietly. “Can I call you Virge?”

Virgil nodded as they walked aimlessly through the halls of the mall.

“Well, you’re an artist, right?”

Virgil nodded again, shooting Patton a confused look.

“Have you drawn anything you would want to gift to Roman? Or do you think you’d have time before Christmas?”

Virgil thought about it for a moment. There was that piece he started that night Roman took him out stargazing… And the person he’d drawn looked a lot like a stylized Roman… He could add another stylized character in there, too…

Patton laughed a little next to him. “Come on,” he said, grabbing Virgil’s arm and starting to pull him in a direction. “Let’s get a frame for that piece.”

Virgil gave him another smile. Patton gave him a wide grin. They stopped by a store and grabbed a frame that was the right size for his sketchbook paper.

By then, their shopping time (with the insanely long pre-Christmas lines and the packed stores) combined with the time spent wandering (trying to navigate the insane crowds) meant it was already time to meet for lunch.

They pushed their way to the food court, not talking much, but the silence was companionable instead of awkward or suffocating. By the time they got there, Roman and Logan had already claimed a booth in the seating area.

Roman’s face lit up like a Christmas tree the moment his eyes landed on Virgil. Virgil couldn’t help the smile that forced its way onto his face at the sight, but he made sure to keep it small since they were still in public.

“My turn to pay,” Virgil said immediately as they approached the table.

Patton giggled a little. Roman rolled his eyes, but his wide smile didn’t falter.

“I knew you’d remember, as unfortunate as it is,” he said, standing. He looked at Patton and Logan. “Save the table, please? Then you guys can go grab food when we’re back.”

Once Logan and Patton had both given their agreement, Roman started walking toward the food vendors.

“What’re you in the mood for, sweetcheeks?”

Virgil rolled his eyes and fought down a smile at the nickname. “Something quick and easy.”

They deliberated for a few moments before finally settling on the fast food joint they were standing closest to. They arrived back to the booth laden with burgers and fries. Patton and Logan left to find food and Roman and Virgil slid into the same side of the booth. They quickly decided to eat instead of socialize and began shoveling food into their mouths. By the time Logan and Patton showed up with Chinese, they were nearly finished.

“So what next?” Patton asked with a mouthful of chicken.

“It’s  _ my _ turn to call Virgil,” Roman said around a bite of burger.

“You’re both disgusting, swallow your food,” Logan said.

Patton swallowed and turned to give Logan a smile. “Looks like we’re teamed up for gift shopping!”

Logan shot Virgil a look, but Virgil just raised an eyebrow.

“That sounds… satisfactory, Patton,” Logan said.

Patton seemed to dim a little, but nodded enthusiastically anyway. Virgil looked at Logan and jerked his head towards Patton with his own look.

Logan tugged at his earlobe. “I am… looking forward to our mutual shopping experience.”

Virgil quirked his lip up and Patton brightened again and started chattering away at Logan. He took the initiative to bump his shoulder against Roman’s. Roman smiled and bumped him back.

They finished eating quickly, the food court starting to fill up with an uncomfortable number of people. They waved Patton and Logan off before starting down a hallway themselves.

Roman leaned in a little closer. “I caught the signals that you aren’t big on PDA, but it’s pretty crowded. Would it be okay if we held hands?”

Virgil bit his lip, eyes darting around the crowds. He summoned all his bravery and reached out his hand, linking he and Roman’s pinkies together.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Roman grin.

“So, what does the ever-bubbly Patton like?” Virgil asked.

Roman hummed. “Disney. Food. Slime.”

Virgil jerked to a halt as Roman spoke. A lucky coincidence, that they were now passing by the Disney Store.

“What’s his favorite Disney movie?” Virgil asked as he led them towards the shop.

Roman’s eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store as they entered, almost making Virgil laugh. “He likes Winnie-the-Pooh,” he whispered, almost absent-mindedly, too absorbed in the store itself to pay much attention.

“We’re here for Patton, Princey,” Virgil teased, bumping their shoulders again. “Don’t go too crazy.”

Roman laughed a little. “I’ll just look. You -- you go find Pat something.”

Virgil brought his hand up to prevent a chuckle from escaping (damn them being in public) and walked over to the stuffed animals. Patton seemed like he was the stuffed animal type. Now that he thought about it, so did Roman. Hell,  _ he _ would probably be a stuffed animal person if he could afford it or had someone to buy him some.

Maybe he would subtly let Roman know he liked stuffed animals.

No, he shouldn’t do that. And he shouldn’t make Roman spend more money on him than he already does.

He brushed his hand across a Simba. Then a soft, fluffy Stitch. Then a puffy little Eeyore, more fur than stuffing.

“Soft, aren’t they?” A voice said behind him.

Virgil couldn’t stop himself from jumping. He whipped around only to be met with a sheepish-looking Roman.

“Sorry, darling.”

Virgil gave him a small smile, relaxing again. “It’s okay, Ro.”

Roman grinned at him. “I am hugging you  _ so _ hard later.”

Virgil rolled his eyes, pretending not to be pleased. He quickly selected the least expensive Pooh Bear plush and turned around. Roman nodded at his choice and they quickly checked out and left the store.

“You still need something for Logan?” Virgil asked.

“Yup,” Roman said, linking their pinkies again. “Any ideas?”

“He likes mugs. And nerd stuff.”

They walked for a few more minutes before Roman stopped in front of a store. “Well, looks like it’s our lucky day, finding all our gifts so fast. What about a  _ Live Long and Prosper _ travel mug?”

Virgil smiled at him. “Perfect.”

Roman went into the store, one seemingly containing exclusively mugs, to buy the gift. Virgil followed him in and happened across a Steven Universe travel mug. He immediately bought it for Maisey.

“Well,” Roman said as they left the store, “looks like we’re done. Want me to call Patton and see if they are?”

Virgil could feel his social reserves reaching empty. He nodded. They relaxed on a bench with their bag-laden armas and Roman pulled out his phone.

Virgil didn’t pay attention to the conversation Roman had, he was too busy resisting the urge to lay his shoulder, right there where anyone could see. Now that he was aware of how drained he was, he just seemed to be getting more and more tired. He was ready to go home and  _ nap _ .

Eventually, Logan and Patton rejoined them and they all made their way back to Roman’s car. The ride was rather silent, all of them seeming exhausted from the Christmas rush at the mall.

But Roman held Virgil’s hand in the car, just like always, as Virgil laid his head against the window, zoning out and nearly dozing off. His thumb rubbed soothing circles against Virgil’s skin and, every once in a while, Virgil would squeeze his hand.

“We should bake cookies,” Patton piped up from the backseat as they entered Logan and Virgil’s neighborhood.

“Too tired today,” Virgil mumbled.

“Tomorrow?” Roman suggested.

“But where?” Logan asked.

Seemed all they were capable by that point was sentence fragments.

Virgil sat up. “Actually, the Beste’s should have left for their annual winter vacation while we were out today. They won’t be back for weeks.

“What ingredients will we need?” Logan asked, also sitting up from where he’d slumped against the car in exhaustion.

“Don’t worry about it!” Patton said, suddenly full of energy again. “Roman and I can bring everything we’ll need tomorrow! Showing up after lunch sound good?”

Virgil gave a thumbs up and Logan hummed an affirmative.

Roman pulled up in front of the Beste’s house and pulled him over by his hand to kiss him on the cheek. “Goodbye, darling.”

“Bye, sap,” Virgil whispered. He turned to the backseat. “Bye, you guys.”

There was a chorus of goodbyes in return. Virgil grabbed his purchases and exited the car with one last kiss to Roman’s cheek, feeling a bit odd leaving the car without Roman helping him out. He made his way into the house and smiled. It had been a pretty alright day.

But he could really use a nap.

And he needed to finish Roman’s present.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, next update is the 30th


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I will do my best to not have anymore late chapters, thanks for being patient with me, y'all!!
> 
> Also, a lot of you seem stressed lol. I promise, no Big Angst during the holiday bits, my gift to you guys and myself lol. After the holiday bits I will go back to tormenting you with you not knowing when it's coming and laugh manically as the "omg it's too fluffy it's all going to go wrong next chapter" comments start rolling in again lol
> 
> Also also, this chapter is a little short. Way short for this series' usual standards lol (considering chapters are usually 6-12K for the reputation series whoops lol), but it's mostly filler and I did run a little out of steam. Not writing this story/these specific characterization variations for a month messed me up a little, but I think by the end of the chapter I was starting to get back into the groove and it shows lol. Hopefully chapters will start ticking up in length, again!

Virgil was insane. That had to be it, had to be what possessed him to invite everyone over for baking. He had been so tired and drained after shopping, he had acted without thinking, which was  _ completely _ unlike him. But at least the Beste’s were gone. And with a few touch-ups, the house was spotless.  _ But, _ he had also stayed up almost all night to finish the piece of art he’d made for Roman’s present. He was exhausted and anxious and didn’t want to deal with people. 

Then again, that was most days for him.

The doorbell rang and Virgil groaned and went to open it. On the Beste’s front porch was a similarly exhausted Logan. He trudged into the house past Virgil and Virgil rolled his eyes.

“Ask him out before I put mistletoe everywhere,” he grumbled, watching Logan slump against the kitchen island.

Logan looked at him, expression blank. “Then you’d risk kissing Roman, too.” He dropped his head to the counter. “Wasn’t it you who vehemently insisted you hadn’t done so, yet?”

Virgil scowled and shoved him gently. “Fuck you.”

“No thanks, you’re taken.”

Virgil rolled his eyes again.

“Why didn’t you at least make coffee?”

“I did. I drank it.”

“Make me some.”

“No.”

“Coward.”

“Uno reverse card.”

Logan lifted his head from where it’d been pillowed on his arms. “I hate you.”

“Cool.”

Logan dropped his head again with a loud sigh. “It’s just… He was so  _ sweet _ yesterday. Making sure I could keep up through the crowds, linking our arms together. Making tiny little jokes to try and make me laugh.”

“Did you?”

“Laugh? No, I don’t laugh at  _ puns _ .”

Virgil raised an eyebrow, leaning his hip against the island. “What’s the brightest star in the sky.”

Logan turned his head just enough to scowl at him. “Fuck you.”

Virgil sighed. “You gotta give him something, Specs. Some sort of sign you like him back.”

“How do you  _ know _ he likes me?” Logan agonized, groaning into his arms.

“It’s obvious!”

“It is not!”

“It is!”

“Not.”

Virgil scoffed at Logan before mirroring his position, arms on the counter and head on top. They stood in silence for a few minutes. Virgil had actually halfway started to doze off when the doorbell rang and he practically jumped out of his skin in surprise. Logan snorted at him (though it almost sounded like a snore) and he glared.

Virgil opened the door to find Patton and Roman standing there, arms laden with groceries. He quickly opened the door wider and let them pass through. They dumped their armfuls of bags at the island next to Logan and Roman immediately made a beeline for Virgil, sweeping him into a hug.

“Good morning, my darling!” He sang, kissing the top of Virgil’s head.

“Morning,” Virgil grumbled into his shirt.

Roman pulled back to examine him, humming a little. “Hard to tell under that lovely makeup of yours, but you didn’t sleep, did you?”

Virgil shrugged. “Not much.”

Roman brushed a gentle thumb across his cheekbone. “Darling--”

Virgil jumped with a gasp as there was a loud  _ bang! _ At the counter. He glanced over Roman’s shoulder to see Logan jolt upwards from his position on the island, looking startled. Patton was standing next to him with a random stand mixer.

“Sorry!” Patton yelped. “It was heavy!”

Virgil waved him off tiredly, absently noting with a warm feeling in his stomach the feeling of Roman’s hand at the small of his back. He looked back to Logan, still glancing around and confused.

“Were you  _ asleep _ ?” Virgil asked incredulously.

Logan scowled at him, running a hand through his hair. “Weren’t you, too?”

Virgil snorted. “Not as much as you.” He finally turned to shut the front door, realizing the chill. Roman frowned and followed him to stand at the island with Logan and Patton.

“You sure you’re okay to do this, today?” He asked.

Virgil scoffed. “I’ve gone to school on less sleep.”

Roman frowned. “That does not make me feel any better.”

Virgil shrugged, looking toward Patton. “Teach us how to bake, then.”

Patton glanced between him and Roman for a moment before settling back into his smile and starting to pull ingredients out of shopping bags.

“Well,” he said, “depends on what you wanna make!”

Logan cocked his head to the side. “You brought the ingredients, should you not know what they make?”

Patton giggled and Virgil smirked as he saw Logan swallow.

“We got plenty of stuff to make all sorts of things!” Patton said, fumbling a bag of chocolate chips and yelping as he dropped them. Logan caught them, wide-eyed, before they fell. He handed them back to Patton, clearing his throat.

Virgil exchanged a  _ look _ with Roman. Roman rolled his eyes with a teasing smile, nodding in the other pair’s direction. They  _ had _ to get them together, before they drove Virgil mad.

But they should probably actually start baking, first. 

“I’ll eat anything,” Virgil said, “but Logan can be pretty picky. He only eats, like, chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies. Sometimes shortbread.”

Logan glared at him. “I’m not picky. I just have  _ taste _ .”

Patton laughed and Logan’s glare immediately dropped as he turned pink. Virgil snorted and Logan shot him the bird behind Patton’s back. Roman cleared his throat like he was trying to keep from laughing, causing Patton to glance up from the grocery bags.

Patton grinned at them all. “Chocolate chip cookies first, then? Or maybe it’d be better to do some sugar cookies first so they’ll cool before we make the frosting…” he trailed off, scrunching his face up in concentration and looking back down at the bags.

“The latter is a good plan,” Logan said.

Patton beamed and started pulling the ingredients he wanted out of bags, gently giving orders and asking about certain tools he needed. Virgil was shocked at how smoothly things went. He expected there to be more mess-making than there was.

He tried to sneak a bite of cookie dough behind Patton’s back.

“Salmonella,” Logan called.

Patton whipped around to stare at him, narrowing his eyes as if anyone that looked as soft as him could appear threatening.

“Traitor,” Virgil hissed.

Logan smirked, sneaking his own bite of cookie dough now that Patton wasn’t looking. Virgil’s jaw dropped open. Roman’s arm darted out from behind Virgil and grabbed a hunk of cookie dough.

“Roman!” Patton squealed, darting around Virgil.

Virgil finally shoved his own bite in his mouth before stealing another one and shoving it in, too. Logan, thinking Patton was still distracted, followed suit, only to stop wide-eyed, cheeks puffed out, at Patton’s squeal of protest.

Logan darted around the island, Patton hot on his heels. Virgil covered his mouth and laughed, leaning back into Roman, who had reappeared behind him.

“That’s for baking!” Patton yelled, but he was giggling as he chased Logan so Virgil knew he wasn’t really upset.

“You say that as if you don’t do it all the time,” Roman called.

Patton gasped dramatically as he finally caught up to Logan and wrapped his arms tightly around his torso. “Don’t expose me!”

He turned Logan around to hide behind him, which worked shockingly well considering the height difference. Virgil let out another laugh behind his sleeve at Logan’s panicked facial expression. He decided to take pity on him.

“Should we start rolling these out and get them into the oven?” Virgil asked.

Patton immediately bounced out from behind Logan, but kept a hold on his arm to drag him over to the mixing bowl. “Yeah! I brought Christmas themed cookie cutters!”

And things went smoothly once more. They worked together to cut the cookies into shapes, candy canes and Christmas trees and wreaths and more, and rotated the batches through the oven seamlessly.

Patton was shockingly focused when it came to baking. And he was  _ really _ good at it. His movements were sure and smooth, and he had a smile on his face the whole time.

“You should open a bakery,” Virgil said absently as he cut stats into the flattened dough.

Patton glanced over at him and smiled. “I’d love to, someday! It’s just… start up costs are insane. We don’t have that kind of money.”

Roman’s cutting of gingerbread man shapes got slightly more aggressive. “I’ve  _ offered _ ,” he grumbled.

Patton reached over to squeeze his arm. “I know, and you know I appreciate it, but you already spend too much money on me -- on  _ us _ . I don’t want charity, Roman.” 

Virgil looked back down at the stars he was cutting out. It seemed like money was a big thing with Patton (and his family), too. And Virgil knew just from chatter in the halls and Roman’s texts from before the dance that Patton already worked more than one job. It wasn’t fair.

Not that Virgil wasn’t already aware of how unfair life and dreams were.

They carefully left that topic behind as they left the dozens of sugar cookies to cool. Virgil quickly washed the mixing bowl and mixer attachments, and Patton started directing them for the chocolate chip cookies.

“Okay, so first we need to mix the butter,  _ dark _ brown sugar, and regular sugar -- Virgil, would you mind mixing the rest of the dry ingredients in a separate bowl?”

“Sure thing,” Virgil replied, grabbing another bowl and a whisk. “Roman, could you bring me the flour?”

Roman responded by pecking him on the cheek and walking away. Moments later, the flour thumped onto the counter next to him, causing a cloud of it to puff up and lightly coat his face and clothes. Virgil coughed and waved his hand to try and blow the cloud away. He turned to glare at a sheepish-looking Roman.

“Sorry?” Roman said hesitantly.

“I’ll show you sorry,” Virgil growled with a slight smirk.

“Oh no,” he heard Logan say, but it was too late.

Virgil reached his hand into the bag of flour and threw a handful of it at Roman, coating him in the white powder. It was silent for a beat. Then two.

“Oh, you’ve done it now,” Roman growled and grabbed his own handful of flour.

But Virgil ducked, and the weaponized ingredient instead flew into the side of Logan’s head. Virgil let out a startled laugh, darting out of the way and Logan lunged for the bag of flour, a determined look on his face. Suddenly, it was a flour free-for-all between the three of them.

Absently, Virgil was aware of the fake shutter sound of a phone camera, but his focus was too dedicated to the flour fight to care much. Eventually, he managed to snatch the bag of flour off the counter and run to the other side of the kitchen while pelting the other two with flour.

Patton laughed heartily at the three of them. “Well that was exciting!”

Virgil shook his fingers through his hair, watching the powder float to the floor. “Hopefully there’s still enough left for cookies.”

Patton looked over to look into the bag and giggled. “Looks like there’s plenty!”

Virgil put the flour back on the counter and let Logan take over the measuring and mixing. He turned to Roman and let out a small laugh at how ridiculous he looked. He reached up and started shaking his fingers through Roman’s hair, trying to brush the flour out. He ignored the fond grin that spread over Logan’s face and continued brushing him off.

He squeaked quietly when Roman grabbed him by the hips as he lowered his hands. Roman placed a kiss on his cheekbone and gave him another grin.

“Sap,” Virgil muttered far too fondly as Roman walked over to help Patton.

“Looks like he’s turning you into one, too,” Logan teased as Virgil went to help him (or, more accurately, watch over his shoulder as Logan mixed).

“And you’ll be one, too, once you stop being so chicken-shit.

Logan shot him a glare while Virgil grinned.

“Hey guys,” Patton called as he added vanilla to the slowly spinning stand mixer, “is the dry mixture done, yet?”

“Yes,” Logan said, picking up the bowl and handing it to Patton.

Virgil had to hold back a snort when their hands touched and both of their eyes went wide. Roman was not able to hold back his laugh, but he was able to disguise it as a cough.

“Sorry,” he said unconvincingly. “Flour.”

Virgil rolled his eyes and Roman stuck his tongue out at him.

Patton cleared his own throat and smiled again. “Now we add the dry mix slowly, and then the chocolate chips, and then we bake them!”

Roman made eye contact with Virgil and nodded his head at the other side of the kitchen. Virgil smirked and they both walked over as quietly as they cold as Patton rambled off about baking to Logan, who was listening intently.

“You think they’ll ever confess?” Roman asked quietly, leaning his hip against the counter.

Virgil snorted quietly. “Hopefully. Eventually. I don’t know how much more pining I can take.”

Roman chuckled under his breath. “Aww, but they’re so cute!”

“Are you kidding me? Logan has a gay crisis every time you guys leave us alone.”

“Aww, you poor baby,” Roman pouted. “Must be so hard for you to hear about his crush.”

Virgil rolled his eyes, a grin trying to fight it’s way onto his face.

Roman’s smile turned mischievous. “Allow me to take your mind off it,” he purred as he pinned Virgil against the counter.

“Oh?” Virgil wrapped his arms around Roman’s neck and tilted his head, smirking. “How are you planning to do that?”

Roman leaned in and touched their noses together. “I have a few--”

“Hey!” Someone shouted, and they leapt apart.

Virgil cleared his throat, hoping his makeup hid his sudden blush. “Y-yeah?”

Logan scowled at them. “Quit flirting and come help, we’re getting these in the oven.”

Patton giggled, lightly shoving Logan’s shoulder. “Oh, let them have their fun!”

Roman laughed nervously. “We’re, ah, we’re coming.”

So they went and helped with the baking, all the while sending each other flirtatious looks behind Logan and Patton’s backs.

The baking of the cookies went by rather quickly. Roman sneaked a couple of them, still warm and gooey, off the cooling racks and shoved them with Virgil. They were  _ delicious _ . Patton really knew how to bake. Virgil gave Roman a kiss on the cheek in thanks, which Roman returned by giving him a series of affectionate pecks across his forehead.

Then they made the frosting, which was pretty quick after Virgil washed the bowl and mixer attachment again (Patton tried, but Virgil insisted he was a guest). They separated it into smaller bowls, dyed those various colors, and settled at the table to frost the sugar cookies. Virgil leaned up against Roman’s warm side as they worked, Roman occasionally dropping quick kisses to his floured hair.

Virgil let Logan and Patton just do their thing across the table. They could figure themselves out and Logan could gush to him later. Right now, he was just enjoying the presence of  _ friends _ in a house that usually felt so cold and cruel.

Virgil leaned up from his comfortable slouch to press a kiss under Roman’s jaw, smiling when he leaned into Virgil further.

Maybe Christmas  _ wouldn’t _ feel like garbage, this year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed!! Leave a comment or kudos if you like, and come visit me on tumblr at sociallyawkward--fics!
> 
> You'll see me again (for this fic, at least, lol) on December 14th! And then you get your gift (and apology for missing an update before and making y'all wait like a full 4 weeks for an update lol) of only a week's wait for the holidays! You'll have updates the 14th, the 21st, and the 28th before we go back to out usual every-other-Saturday schedule! And I'll do my best to be on time for the rest of this fic!
> 
> Love y'all!! You guys are awesome!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I am late once more... I need to stop making a habit of this, sorry y'all! If a chapter isn't posted on a Saturday it should be posted, 100% check my tumblr, I will probably be letting people know there since it's easier than trying to let you all know here.
> 
> But!! Here we are, the Christmas Eve chapter, get ready to rot your teeth, my beta was squealing at me the whole time she was editing lol

As much as he wished Roman could stay forever, Virgil was tired enough that he was almost relieved when he and Patton headed out. He gave Roman a peck on the cheek and received one in return, and even accepted a hug from Patton (which, Logan received one as well, and while his makeup covered his blush, his red ears gave him away).

Then he and Logan set off to cleaning up the kitchen (though Virgil had tried to insist that Logan go home and rest and leave it to him). The flour fight, as fun as it had been, had left quite the mess, and it took far too long to clean it up.

They collapsed next to each other on the kitchen island when they were finished, very similar to the positions they’d been in before Roman and Patton had shown up. Virgil had almost managed to doze off again when his phone vibrated and he groaned. He pulled it out of his pocket with a huff.

_ Pattatat tagged you in a post _ .

Virgil furrowed his brow, He  _ assumed _ that was Patton. He hadn’t really paid attention to anyone but Roman when he made his account. Plus, what pictures had Patton even  _ posted _ ?

He quickly opened the notification and started scrolling through the post. The first few pictures were shots of the cookies they had made that day. 

The next few were shots of the flour fight: Roman laughing mid-dodge, Logan looking determined while reaching for the flour, Virgil himself throwing a handful (his sleeves thankfully blocking the smile he knew had been on his face at that moment); Virgil covering his head and Logan with his back turned for protection as Roman pelted them both with flour; Virgil racing away with the bag of flour (the top of it just barely covering his smile, so it was fine), while Roman and Logan had their backs facing the camera, faces facing Virgil, as they raised their arms to protect from the assault.

The last two pictures were of them in pairs. One was of a smiling Patton, finger covered in frosting pulling away from Logan’s nose, which had a dollop of frosting on it that he was trying to look at, confused and slightly scowling. The other was of Virgil and Roman, leaning against each other while being completely absorbed in frosting the cookies in their hands.

The caption of the post read:

** _pattatat: _ ** _ Had a great day baking with the best, today! Happy Holidays, everyone! _

Deeming them all safe enough to be online and not ruin him or Logan, Virgil liked the post and went onto Patton’s account to follow him. Logan hummed quietly, leaning over his shoulder to see. Virgil rolled his eyes.

“Give me your phone,” he said.

Logan looked at him. “Why?”

“Just give it.”

Logan handed him his phone, eyebrows scrunched up. Virgil unlocked it and downloaded Instagram, making Logan an account, all while Logan looked over his shoulder. He followed himself, Roman, and Patton before handing the device back to Logan.

“Must you force social media on me?” Logan said sarcastically with a huff of a laugh.

“Hey, now you have a whole platform of Patton pictures to blush over.”

Logan’s ears once again gave away his blush as he shoved Virgil. Virgil laughed, staring over Logan shoulder as notifications for Patton and Roman following him back popped up.

“Put us out of our misery and just ask him out already.”

“Absolutely not.”

Virgil threw his hands up in exasperation.; “Why  _ not _ ? All of you pushed me and Roman together, and that’s working great so far!”

Virgil pushed down the spike of anxiety that flared up when Logan mutinously muttered, “So far.,” almost too low for him to hear.

Virgil reached into his pocket to fidget with his worry stone. “If  _ he _ asked  _ you _ out, would you say no?”

Logan bit his lip and grumbled out a soft, frustrated little, “... No.”

Virgil walked over and flopped onto a chair at the dining table.”Problem solved, we’ll get him to ask you out, then.”

Logan scoffed, following him to the table and grabbing a cookie from the plate they’d left out. “ _ That’ll _ happen.”

Virgil rolled his eyes and snatched the cookie out of Logan’s hand, taking a bite out of it.Logan rolled his own eyes and grabbed another cookie. They ate in silence for a moment before Logan sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that ‘so far’ comment about you and Roman.”

“I know. It’s okay.”

There were another few moments of silence before Logan said, “ _ Great _ , huh?”

It was Virgil’s turn to blush and he brought up his sleeve to hide as much of his face as he could. Logan laughed teasingly.

“Hey should we… invite them to Christmas tomorrow?” Logan asked.

Virgil dropped his hand. “Up to you. I wouldn’t be opposed.”

Logan nodded, face determined.

He left sooner after that with his own share of the cookies, wanting to wash the flour out of his hair and clothes. After Virgil had taken his own shower and was in the midst of straightening his hair, he checked his phone. Logan had started a group chat on Instagram.

** _pocketprotector: _ ** _ Would you two like to join Virgil and my family for Christmas Eve tomorrow? _

** _pattatat: _ ** _ I’d love to! I asked my dad and he’s fine with it! _

** _yourprinecharming: _ ** _ sounds good! _

** _yourprincecharming named the group “Christmas Gays”_ **

** _youremonightmare:_ ** _ really? _

** _yourprincecharming:_ ** _ *kissing emoji* _

** _pocketprotector: _ ** _ No flirting in the group chat. _

** _yourprincecharming:_ ** _ *tongue sticking out emoji* _

Virgil laughed and put his phone back down to finish straightening his hair and throw his hoodie in the wash.

The next morning, he carefully put Roman’s gift in it’s frame and painstakingly wrapped it. Then, he promptly had a crisis and started pacing the entire house, terrified that Roman wouldn’t like his gift.

He decided to head over to Logan’s a little early to try and distract himself. He trekked through the snow for the few blocks (and it took longer than he expected due to some fresh snow and the fact that his joints were getting cold and hard to move from his lack of winter gear) it took to get to Logan’s house. He  _ really _ needed a thicker jacket. He was so frozen by the time he got to the Boman’s that he almost couldn’t keep his hands carrying his gifts.Luckily, Mr. Boman opened the door immediately without him even having to walk.

“Virgil, you’re going to freeze! Come in, come in!”

“Thanks, Mr. Boman,” Virgil said, teeth chattering, allowing Mr. Boman to take the gifts from his hands and put them under the tree.

Logan poked his head out from the kitchen. “Dad -- your biscuits.”

Mr. Boman gasped and rushed into the kitchen. Virgil hid a chuckle behind his hand as Logan came to join him. Mrs. Boman rushed out from the dining room and pulled Virgil into a hug.

“Merry Christmas, Blackberry!”

Virgil hugged back lightly. “You too, Mrs. Boman.”

She pulled back slightly and gave him a sly look. “And you know what this means, right?”

Virgil gave her a confused look. She grinned.

“We finally get to meet that boyfriend of yours!”

Virgil’s face went slack with horror. “Oh my gosh.”

Logan barked out a laugh as Mrs. Boman pulled back completely and ruffled his hair. The Boman’s were going to do everything in their power to embarrass him. He was  _ doomed _ .

In a last-ditch attempt to save his own skin, Virgil blurted, “Logan’s crush is coming, too!”

Mrs. Boman’s grinned widened as she looked towards Logan. Mr. Boman’s head popped out of the kitchen with a matching expression.

“Oh my god,” Logan whispered. “Now we’re  _ both _ screwed, you idiot.”

Mrs. Boman laughed at them, giving them both a kiss on the forehead before going back to whatever she’d been doing in the dining room before.

“We’re going to die today,” Logan said, flopping on the couch.

“Yup.”

“Traitor.”

“If I’m going down, you’re going down with me.”

They sat in silence, just relaxing in each other’s presence and listening to the homey sounds of the Boman’s bustling around. Eventually, the doorbell rang, and they both sat straight up.

“Boys, can you get that?” Mrs. Boman called teasingly.

Logan stood and forcibly pulled Virgil to his feet. Together, they made their way to the door and pulled it open. Patton immediately darted in and gave Virgil a quick hug before lunging at Logan for a much longer hug. Virgil skirted around them to catch Roman on the porch and leap into his arms, anxieties immediately gone.

Roman laughed, making Virgil smile, and immediately lifted him off the ground to spin him around. He set Virgil back on the ground and pulled back just enough to start peppering his face with kisses until Virgil couldn’t hold back his giggles and pushed playfully at Roman’s shoulder.

“Merry Christmas, sugar plum,” Roman sang quietly.

Virgil let out one last giggle and he leaned up to peck Roman’s cheek. “Merry Christmas, sap.”

“Wanna help me get the presents out of the car? Patton was too excited to wait long enough to do that.”

Virgil smiled and slipped his hand into Roman’s. “Sure thing.”

They walked slowly toward the car, snow crunching under their feet. Roman backed him against the side of it and placed his hands on Virgil’s hips.

Virgil laughed and cocked his head to the side, wrapping his arms around Roman’s neck. “I thought we were getting the presents.”

Roman smirked, moving in closer when Virgil shivered. “Maybe I want you all to myself for a few minutes before the family funtimes.”

Virgil hummed and used his grip around Roman’s neck to pull him closer until they were touching noses. “And why might that be, my Prince?”

Roman rubbed their noses together briefly. “To ask you about your plans tomorrow.”

Virgil grinned. “Why, Roman Prince, are you asking me out on a  _ date _ ?”

Roman laughed a little bashfully, the tips of his ears going pink. “Perhaps. If I were, would you say yes?”

“Hmmm, I dunno, maybe you should convince--”

“Mom says to get your butts inside before you freeze,” Logan called, heading poking out the door. “Which means quit  _ flirting _ !”

Virgil threw back his head and groaned while Roman laughed. He opened the car door and started pulling gifts out.

“Oh gosh, they were probably watching us through the windows.”

“So? I like you, you like me, you’re absolutely adorable. Let them watch.”

Virgil scoffed, trying to cover up for the silly smile that was trying to break out across his face. “No, like, it’s Mr. and Mrs. Boman, Roman.”

Roman gave him an odd, yet fond look and handed him a few of the gifts from the backseat. “And?”

“They’re the closest thing to parents I have, Ro.”

Roman froze, almost dropping a present before Virgil lunged to catch it.

“I am not ready to meet your parents, oh  _ shit _ .”

Virgil squeezed his shoulder and leaned down to kiss his cheek, trying to rub away the lipstick smudge he’d left with a laugh. “Don’t worry, they’re not like that. I have to worry more about being embarrassed then you do about being murdered.”

Roman gave Virgil his own peck on the cheek before grabbing the rest of the gifts and hip-checking the door closed. “I hope you’re right.”

Virgil bumped their shoulders together as they walked toward the house. “Yes, by the way.”

Roman shot him a confused look. “Yes?”

“To the date?”

Roman gave him a bright smile. “I’ll text you with details after I get home tonight.”

Virgil smiled back. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“Hey,” Roman murmured before they reached the door, “do you think if we hung mistletoe over Logan and Patton, they’d get over themselves and kiss?”

Virgil laughed. “Not in front of his parents, Logan wouldn’t. Also, there’s been a development there, remind me to tell you later.”

“Ooh, drama.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Roman laughed.

They went inside and placed the gifts under the tree before joining Logan and Patton on the couch where they were sitting in silence and shooting each other  _ looks _ when they thought they other wasn’t looking. Mrs. Boman entered the room with a sly grin.

“You two must be Roman and Patton!” She said, opening her arms.

Patton dove right in for a big hug. She gave him a warm-looking squeeze before moving onto Roman, who was looking incredibly nervous once more. She pulled him into a hug with little resistance on his part.

“You must be a good one for Virgil to have chosen you,” Virgil heard Mrs. Boman murmur in Roman’s ear. “We trust you to treat him well. He cares for you a lot.”

“Of course. I care for him a lot, too,” he heard Roman murmur back.

Virgil glanced down, fighting down another silly smile and hoping his makeup hid his pleased blush.

Mr. Boman chose that moment to enter the room, wiping his hands on a dish rag and tossing it over his shoulder. “Dinner is served!”

Patton faltered. “Not that I’m complaining, but it’s only three pm?”

Logan shrugged, starting towards the dining room. “We always eat at weird times on holidays.”

Mrs. Boman crossed her arms. “Blueberry, Blackberry, aren’t you going to help our guests with their coats.”

Virgil watched Logan’s face go red under his makeup and felt his do the same. Roman smirked and Roman and Patton turned wide grins on Virgil and Logan.

_ And so it began. _

Virgil practically snatched the jacket out of Roman’s hand with a glare.

Roman was undeterred. “Blackberry?” He asked teasingly.

“Not another word,” Virgil grumbled as he stalked towards the coat rack by the door.

They quickly hung the coats and made their way into the dining room, where Mr. Boman had already laid out his feast. Virgil may or may not have subtly scooted his chair closer to Roman’s as he sat down so that Roman could toss an arm around his shoulders (if he wanted to, that is).

Dinner was a much louder affair than usual, with the added extrovert personalities of Roman and Patton, and the Boman’s trying to embarrass Logan and Virgil at every turn. Logan looked like he had met his doom when Patton and Mr. Boman started tossing puns and dad jokes back and forth. Roman  _ did _ end up tossing an arm around Virgil’s shoulders, at some point, causing Virgil to try and hide a smile behind the lip of his cup. After he finished eating, he reached up and laced his fingers with the hand draped over his shoulder without thinking.

The Boman’s exchanged a look before smiling at him at that, but, despite his face growing undeniably warm, he just contentedly leaned further into Roman’s side.

Dessert was the cookies they made the previous day, which Mr. Boman couldn’t stop praising. He begged Patton for the recipe, but he just laughed.

“Sorry, Mr. B. Secret family recipe,” Patton replied.

After their stomachs were stuffed full, they made their way back to the living room.

“We’ll leave you boys to your own devices soon,” Mrs. Boman said, “but first, we have a present for Virgil.”

Virgil’s head shot up from where he was looking at the Boman’s Christmas movie collection. “Me?”

Mr. Boman laughed. “Well, since you actually decided to do Christmas this year, we figured we should leap on the chance while we still could.”

They handed him a present and he just stared at it in awe for a few moments, jaw dropped.

“Are you going to do this every time you get a present tonight?” Logan snarked at him. “Because you still have three more after this.”

“Shut up,” Virgil scoffed and tore into the wrapping paper. Two things fell out.

One was a brand new winter coat. It was soft and warm and thick, and perfectly suited to him in a nice, dark purple, nearly black. 

Then, there was also a brand new hoodie to replace the ratty old black and gray one he’d nabbed from a thrift store back in freshman year. It was falling apart more and more every day, and a large part of the reason he was freezing most of the time now that it was winter. The new hoodie was also primarily black, but with purple flannel patches aesthetically stitched on with some white string.

Virgil gasped at the sight of it, grabbing his worry stone out of his current hoodie pocket, removing the old thing, and tossing the tattered fabric aside. He immediately pulled on the new hoodie. It was warm, insanely soft on the inside, and perfectly oversized, just like he liked it.

He smiled at the Boman’s. “They’re perfect, thank you.”

Mrs. Boman kissed his forehead and Mr. Boman pulled him into a hug.

“Boys, stay as long as you’d like,” Mrs. Boman said. “We’ll leave you to your own little party, now.”

“Goodnight, Mr. and Mrs. B!” Roman and Patton chorused.

“Merry Christmas, boys!”

The four of them sat in a loose half-circle near the base of the Christmas tree. Patton and Logan sat way too close together for people who insisted they were barely even friends. The second Roman sat down, Virgil leaned heavily into him, back pressed up against his side, Roman’s arm tossed over one of his shoulders.

Logan shook his head at them. “I will never understand how you got him to be so tactile after, what, not even ten days of dating, yet?”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “We’ve been building this relationship since, like, August or September or something.”

Logan shrugged. “I suppose.”

Patton handed out the gifts as they spoke, three for each person. Virgil brushed a reverent hand over his presents, all so beautifully wrapped.

“So, how are we doing this?” Patton asked cheerfully, inspecting his packages like he could tell what they were by just looking at them.

“We could take turns opening all of them,” Logan suggested. “Or we could each open a present from one person and go around that way.”

“The second one!” Roman cheered. “My presents first!”

Logan rolled his eyes with a smirk and gestured for Patton to open his gift. Patton squealed happily and snatched the present from his pile. He quickly tore through the paper with a big grin, gasping and squealing again when he pulled out a cat onesie from the shredded remains of the paper.

“Roman, it’s amazing. I love it!” Patton cried, launching across the half circle to tackle Roman in a hug, almost knocking Virgil over on accident in the process.

Virgil gestured for Logan to go next. He tore open the paper much more meticulously than Patton and pried open the rectangular box that had been hidden inside. He pulled out the travel mug that Roman had picked out, the text on it reading “Live Long And Prosper” with the Vulcan salute above it. Logan stared at it for a few moments, eyes wide, like he didn’t expect Roman to get something so related to his interests.

“I -- thank you, Roman. This is quite a good gift.” Logan said softly.

All eyes went to Virgil. He fidgeted nervously for a moment before reaching for Roman’s (rather large) gift and carefully tearing the wrapping paper off. Inside the oddly-shaped present, Virgil found a very soft Nightmare Before Christmas blanket, as well as a large Eeyore plush sitting on top of it.

“Did you… go back and get this because I was looking at it?” Virgil asked incredulously.

“Maybe,” Roman said, drawing out the word. “You just looked like you wanted one of those stuffed animals so bad!”

Virgil couldn’t help the happy giggle that broke loose as he hugged the oversized Eeyore to his chest. Roman giggled, too, and pulled his even closer with the arm tossed over his shoulder, pecking him on the temple.

“My presents, now?” Patton asked hopefully, turning his eyes on Logan.

As an answer, Logan picked up the present in his pile from Patton and began opening it. He pulled out the Data Pop Funko that Patton had found and actually  _ smiled _ . Wide and with teeth and everything.

“It’s wonderful, thank you, Patton.”

Patton giggled happily and lunged to give Logan a tight hug. Virgil hid a laugh behind his sleeve as Logan’s ears went slightly pink and he wrapped an arm around Patton in return. Roman and Virgil exchanged a simultaneously sly and annoyed look.

Patton looked eagerly toward Virgi, next. Virgil hesitated a moment before reaching for the correct gift. It was squishy and oddly shaped, so he had a difficult time finding a good place to start ripping the wrapping off. When he finally did, he was greeted with a round pillow. He flipped it over from the plain black side he was staring at and was greeted with a smiling Jack Skellington.

Virgil let out another laugh. “You guys trying to get me to start a stuffed animal collection?”

Patton giggled and leaned across their grouping to give him a quick hug. “That’s the best sort of collection to have!”

Roman was already starting to rip his present open when they pulled back. He cried out in excited delight when a fuzzy, fluffy,  _ bright _ red blanket fell out. He quickly wrapped it around both him and Virgil.

“This is incredible, Pat! Thank you!”

Virgil looked up at Logan. “You or me next?”

Logan shrugged.

After a few long moments of that stalemate, Patton must have decided that they weren’t going to settle things quickly enough and just started ripping into Logan’s gift to him. He tore the paper off to reveal a small, square box. Opening the box, he gasped loudly and delicately lifted a charm bracelet out of it.

“Oh, it’s so pretty,” Patton whispered.

Virgil and Roman exchanged a wide-eyed look. Virgil crossed his fingers under the stuffed animals he was hugging to his chest.  _ Something _ had to come from that, right?

Patton started looking at each charm individually. There were only three on it (so far), and if Virgil leaned forward, he could  _ kind _ of make out what they were from that distance. One looked like a cute little dog, one he thought looked like Winnie-the-Pooh, and one was a little heart charm that looked like it was wearing glasses.

“Oh--Oh, Logan! Oh--” Patton practically threw himself at Logan, wrapping his arms tightly around Logan’s neck.

Logan hesitated before wrapping his arms just as tightly around Patton’s back in return. “I am… glad you like it.”

“Oh, Lo, I  _ love  _ it!” Patton held out his wrist so that Logan could help him clasp the bracelet on.

Virgil bit back a sigh when neither of them made any move to do… well, anything more than that. He nudged Roman to get him to open his present next.

Roman eagerly opened the gift and let out a loud noise of triumph when he saw what it was. Virgil leaned over to see. It was some sort of novel based on some sort of Disney film that Virgil hadn’t seen. Roman clutched the book to his chest and laughed.

“I’ve been meaning to read this,” he said. “Thanks, Logan!”

Logan nodded at him.

Virgil ripped the wrapping paper off his final gift and opened the box it sat in. He pulled out a comically large travel mug decorated with Nightmare Before Christmas themes all over it. He grinned.

“Thanks, Specs.”

“Virgil’s gifts!” Roman cheered.

Roman looked like he was going to go first, but a deep breath from Virgil had him hesitating. He pulled Virgil closer again and gestured for Patton and Logan to open theirs first.

Patton eagerly took the initiative once more and ripped the wrapping off his gift. He squealed loudly once more as he was greeted with the small Pooh stuffed animal, hugging it close to his chest and twisting back and forth.

“I love him!” Patton squealed.

Logan was next, peeling the wrapping paper off his gift. An incredibly pleased look crossed his face as he examined the oversized mug with Picard’s famous tea order. Virgil smiled at him.

“Thank you, Virgil.”

Patton gave Virgil an encouraging smile, so Virgil took a deep breath and nodded at Roman. Roman eyed him for a moment, as if making sure he was okay, before carefully peeling the wrapping off his gift. He stopped and gasped, staring at the piece of art.

The border was comprised of black and red flower petals. Something that looked incredibly simple but had taken him hours alone to complete. In the center were two figures facing opposite directions: one upside down and one right side up. One was dressed in blacks and purples, while the other was dressed in reds and whites. Both of the figures had their eyes closed and their expressions were relaxed, fingers reaching out to barely touch each other where they met in the middle. Depending on which way the picture was turned, it looked like the black figure was falling upside down and the red figure was rising, floating upwards, or vice versa.

Virgil got more and more nervous the longer Roman stayed silent and just stared at it. He sat up from leaning on Roman to glance at his face with concern, nearly gasping when he noticed the tears gathering in his eyes. He reached out a hesitant hand to touch his cheek.

Roman sucked in a shuddering breath and set the frame down in front of them like it was something precious. “Virgil, I -- its  _ beautiful _ .” He looked toward Virgil finally, a tear slipping free.

Virgil almost fell backward when Roman launched at him for a tight hug. He closed his eyes and held Roman close as he trembled and shook, feeling the tears seeping through the fabric on his shoulder. He rocked them back and forth a little like Roman often did when hugging him, pressing little kisses to Roman’s hair and temple where he he could reach every few moments.

“I love it,” Roman eventually whispered into his shoulder, and Virgil couldn’t understand why those words felt like they were saying so much more than just that. “ _ So _ much.”

He just held Roman tighter, pulled him closer. “I’m glad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!! Leave a comment or kudos if you like, and visit me on tumblr at sociallyawkward--fics (and I don't put that in a link anymore because it always ends up broken somehow lol, y'all can just type in the blog name, I guess)
> 
> Like I promised, we are doing weekly updates for the holidays, so if I can crack down on this, the next chapter should be posted on the 21st! (I am not incredibly confident it will be done but hey, I've done more in less time lol). See you then for some sweet, adorable Christmas dating!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops! Remember me? Lol
> 
> Sorry I am so late everyone! I accidentally got major burnout from trying to do too much at once and I had to take a break from this fic because I just couldn't work on it anymore through the burnout. I hope y'all have been enjoying what I've been managing to write on my break from this fic! Thanks for sticking around, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

They finished Christmas Eve night with too many Christmas movies. At some point, curled up against Roman on the couch with Logan pressed in tightly on his otherside, Virgil was so warm and content that he wound up dozing off. Roman’s hand coming up to run through his hair and scratch against his scalp only sent him deeper into sleep.

Virgil had no clue how long had passed before his shoulder was being gently shaken, a voice cooing in his ear.

“Virgil, darling, wake up! It’s time to get up, my beautiful ray of sunshine!”

Virgil made a grumpy noise somewhere between a moan and a growl deep in his throat, smooshing his face further into the warmth he was resting against. He sighed and snuggled in deeper, already starting to fall back asleep.

“Sugar plum! Snow fairy! Open your eyes, my brave cavalier!”

“No,” Virgil grumbled. “Hush.”

“Come on, sweetheart. You have to head back to your own bed.”

“You’re more comfy,” he mumbled, but sat up anyway. He opened his eyes, rubbing the sleep out of them and looking over at a smiling Roman. Roman gave him a kiss on the forehead before nodding in the direction of Patton and Logan, having some sort of discussion while standing  _ very _ close together near the entrance to the kitchen.

“They might be a while. Want to put that new winter coat to use? I’ll walk you ho-- _ back _ .”

Virgil yawned and resisted the urge to collapse back into Roman’s arms and go back to sleep. “Time is it?”

“Like, one in the morning-ish?”

Virgil made some sort of disgusted sound in the back of his throat. Roman laughed and stood, making Virgil mourn the loss of heat. He held out his hands to help Virgil up.

“Come on, I’ll even drive you instead of walking you so we have the heater.”

Virgil groaned, but took Roman’s hands and let him pull him up. He shrugged on his new thick winter coat and started gathering his gifts, Roman leaning down to help.

“See you, losers,” Virgil called playfully as he and Roman made their way out the door. He was too tired to hear if they said anything back.

He and Roman tossed Virgil’s things in the backseat and climbed into the car, where Virgil quickly collapsed against the center console and sighed. Roman chuckled and started the car so he could turn on the heat and seat warmers. As they started driving, his hand found its way into Virgil’s hair again and Virgil closed his eyes with a sigh, relaxing completely. Roman almost had to shake him awake again when they reached the Beste’s house.

“Come on, sleeping beauty, let’s get you inside.” Roman jostled him, making him sit up with a groan.

They gathered his gifts from the car and Roman helped him carry them inside (which, it was nice to use the front door for once) and down to his “room.” Roman made an odd sound in the back of his throat when they reached the basement, and Virgil shot him a weird look while continuing toward the room dividers that hid his things.

“What?”

Roman frowned and walked forward to place the presents on his bed before drawing Virgil into a hug. “It’s even worse in person than through the phone camera.”

Virgil relaxed into him and hugged back tightly. “It’s not  _ so _ bad,” he lied.

“ _ Virgil _ ,” Roman said, voice breaking. “Your wooden furniture is rotting, you have no heat, this blanket looks brand new, which means all you had before were these thin and ripped sheets--”

“Oh you should feel how  _ heavenly _ the mattress is,” Virgil said sarcastically, trying to avoid the situation.

In lieu of a response, Roman collapsed back on the bed, pulling Virgil down with him, making him yelp. Roman started to laugh before cutting himself off with an uncomfortable groan.

“That’s it, I’m getting you a new mattress.”

Virgil scoffed. “Yeah, good luck trying to get that one past the step-beasts.” Though his words had a bit of bite to them, he adjusted his position to cuddle up to Roman more comfortably and grabbed Roman’s arm to draw it around himself.

Roman huffed a small laugh. “We’ll get you out. I promise. Someday. And hopefully soon.”

Virgil looked up at Roman from his place on his chest. In his sleep-addled state, he was overcome with the overwhelming urge to just  _ kiss _ him. On the  _ lips _ . The thought terrified him, making his throat close up and his heart pound with anxiety. He buried his face into Roman’s throat to hide from it.

“You need to rest, love,” Roman said, sounding half-asleep himself.

Virgil grumbled, already halfway there.

The moment Roman started singing quietly, Virgil was out like a light.

Virgil woke up alone, snuggled warmly in the blanket from Maisey and Logan, as well as the one Roman gave him last night. The Eeyore plush was cuddled up happily in his arms, held close to his chest. His head rested on his new round Jack Skellington pillow, laid on top of the ancient, too-flat one the Beste’s had left him with. He sat up with a grunt and saw a loose piece of paper lying on the bed next to him, folded neatly.

_ Good morning, my darling! _

_ Hopefully I shall be there with breakfast shortly after you wake. I cannot wait to spend Christmas with you! Hopefully you slept well, I headed out shortly after you fell asleep so don’t worry about your honor ;) _

_ See you soon! _

_ XOXO --Roman _

Virgil snorted at the “honor” remark before rolling out of bed. It wasn’t even quite eight in the morning yet, and there was no way Roman expected Virgil to be such an (accidental) early riser. He had time to get ready before Roman came back.

Virgil took a quick shower to refresh and quickly rushed downstairs to straighten his hair. Makeup was one thing, but there was  _ no _ way Roman was seeing his curls, not anytime soon. As long as it took, Roman was able to get his hair straightened and his makeup partway done before he got the text that Roman was outside. He rushed upstairs and opened the door just as Roman reached it, holding two boxes of donuts.

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “There’s a donut shop open on _Christmas_?” He asked. “Also, you think we’re going to eat _twenty-four_ _donuts_?”

Roman kicked the door closed with a snort. “Far too many things are open on Christmas. And, I’m a jock that eats insane amounts of food, and  _ you _ are a sugar addict with a sweet tooth bigger than Texas.”

“I am  _ not _ a sugar addict,” Virgil grumbled, even as he opened one of the boxes and stuffed a donut in his face.

Roman just laughed and leaned in to kiss his cheek before moving to put the boxes on the kitchen island. 

Virgil managed to dig up a few stools that were tall enough for them to use at the counter, and the two of them lounged against it. They stuffed themselves full of donuts, teasing and flirting and affectionately annoying each other in the ways that only they could. Roman managed to discover that Virgil’s knees were ticklish, reaching out to squeeze right above his kneecap whenever Virgil wasn’t expecting it, just to hear him squeal and make him blush.

“You’re  _ awful _ ,” Virgil playfully snarled, reaching over to squeeze Roman’s knee in the same place.

Roman yelped and jumped, ears going red. “Truce,” he called out desperately as Virgil’s smirk turned devilish.

Virgil pouted. “Only because I know you’re stronger than me.”

Roman stuck out his tongue and they both laughed.

After they’d gorged themselves on donuts (and Roman was right, between the two of them, they ate nineteen of the donuts), Virgil rushed back downstairs to finish his makeup. He was relieved that he’d already stashed his straightener out of habit, used to having to protect it from the Beste’s. His hair would safely remain his own little secret.

Roman followed him down the stairs and did his absolute best to distract Virgil from finishing. Flirting until Virgil was giggling uncontrollably and unable to hold his tools with a steady hand, hugging him from behind and whispering sweet nothings in his ears until he melted, pulling Virgil into their usual brand of banter until he was too distracted trying to beat Roman to focus on his face.

It took Virgil over twice as long as his usual routine normally took to finish his already halfway-done face.

When he finally finished his makeup, he turned around and wrapped his arms around Roman’s neck with an eyeroll. “ _ You _ ,” he said, “are never allowed to be around while I’m doing makeup, again.”

Roman smirked and placed his hands on Virgil’s hips, backing him up until his lower back hit the dresser. “Why?” He purred, moving until his face was centimeters from Virgil’s. “Am I too  _ distracting _ ?”

A bolt of both intense fear and intense excitement zapped through Virgil as Roman’s eyes scanned his face and glanced towards his lips a few times. Virgil wondered if Roman wanted to kiss him as much as he wanted to kiss Roman at that moment.

The thought of kissing him sent him on an anxious spiral of what could go wrong, so instead of acting on his desire, he just looked down with a shy smile at Roman’s words.

“Maybe just a bit,” Virgil mumbled.

Roman leaned in close until he could speak directly into Virgil’s ear, voice low. “Oh, only a bit? Maybe I should prove to you just how  _ distracting _ I can be.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Flirt with you and compliment you until you’re so red until your makeup can’t even hide it, until you’re giggling so much you can’t even speak, until you’re smiling so wide those dimples will have nowhere to hide.”

Virgil was already giggling. He couldn’t help it. Roman just made him feel so  _ giddy _ . “Ro,” he whined.

Roman chuckled in his ear, making him shiver. “But as much as I’d love to do that, I  _ do _ have date activities planned for us, giggle bug.”

Virgil scoffed, playfully pushing Roman away. “I do  _ not _ giggle.” He said firmly, swallowing the last of his giggles.

Roman drew in close again. “Oh really? I can prove it.”

Virgil blushed again. “No, no, that’s fine--”

“No, I think you want me to prove it to you, angel.”

He backed Virgil into the dresser again and planted little kisses from his collarbone up the side of his neck and face, all the way to his forehead. Virgil was already fighting desperately to keep the giddy giggles at bay.

“You’re so cute, you know? Sometimes I think I’ll melt just looking at you. You’re the most beautiful thing I think I’ve ever laid eyes on. Your eyes are the warmest things I’ve ever seen, your smile more radiant than the sun.”

Virgil was giggling once more. “Be  _ quiet _ ,” he grumbled, though he didn’t really mean it.

“Your laughter is the most enchanting sound on this cursed planet. I couldn’t imagine living without it, my l--my darling.”

Virgil moved forward to hide his face in Roman’s neck. “ _ Stop _ ,” he whined.

“Oh, but do you  _ really _ want me to, sweet one?” Roman teased.

Virgil didn’t answer. He didn’t want to  _ lie _ , but there was no way in hell he was going to tell Roman that he would  _ happily _ let Roman keep going until Virgil was melted into a puddle of blushing and giggling. Sometimes Virgil could flirt back as well as he got it, but sometimes (like that moment), he couldn’t even function when he was being flirted with.

Roman hummed playfully at his lack of response. “I would love to keep going, but perhaps in the car, my dear.”

Virgil smiled at the ground as Roman laced their fingers together and led them up the stairs. Roman swung their arms as they walked, shooting Virgil happy looks.

“So,” Virgil said, as Roman started helping him get his winter coat on, “do I get to know what these date activities are? Because if you’re taking me to the mall to sit on some creepy old man’s lap and take an uncomfortable picture, I think I’ll pass.”

Roman laughed, lacing their fingers together again after shrugging his own coat on, and kissing the back of Virgil’s hand. “Don’t worry, it’s definitely not that.”

“Then what  _ is _ it? C’mon, Princey, spill!” Virgil said as Roman led them outside.

“Nope! It’s a surprise! Sorry, my dearest heart.”

Virgil groaned as Roman opened the car door for him. “You know I hate surprises.”

Roman pouted as he slid in on the driver’s side. “I know… But this one’s fun! Here, I’ll even let you play 20 Questions for it.”

Virgil rolled his eyes fondly as Roman started the car and backed out of the driveway. He thought carefully about his questions for a few minutes of the drive, not wanting to waste any. He ignored Roman’s eyes flicking toward him every so often, but he did lace his fingers over the top of Roman’s when Roman placed his hand on Virgil’s lower thigh.

Only to shriek and practically launch himself into the car door when Roman started squeezing those pressure points above his kneecap again. Virgil started shoving at Roman’s hand as he giggled, and Roman laughed evilly.

“One, I thought you called  _ truce _ ,” Virgil panted when he finally managed to pull Roman’s hand from his leg. “And two, are we really going to be one of  _ those _ couples?”

“Only because your laugh is the best sound in the universe,” Roman sang, smirk impossibly wide, but eyes on the road.

Virgil laced their fingers together tightly and placed their hands on the center console, glaring at Roman. “Stop distracting me from guessing.”

Roman grinned cheekily, sticking his tongue out between his teeth, but made no moves to distract Virgil further.

“Is it Christmas themed?” Virgil eventually asked.

Roman hummed. “No, not quite.”

“Winter themed, then.”

Roman smiled. “Definitely.”

“Is it… cold?”

Roman shrugged. “Probably. At least a little.”

Virgil scrunched up his face in thought. “Does it have to do with snow?”

“Not exactly.”

Virgil froze as an idea of what the date might be popped into his head. “... Is there a chance of me getting hurt?”

Roman hesitated. “I mean, I guess there could be… But we’ll be careful!”

“Will it be crowded?”

“I--I’m not sure? Hopefully not, it’s Christmas after all.”

“Am I going to have to balance on top of razor thin metal blades on top of very slippery ice?”

Roman directed a sheepish smile at him. “Figured it out?”

“I’m not exactly the most athletic person, Ro,” Virgil said hesitantly.

Roman brought Virgil’s hand up to his lips to speak gently against the knuckles. “I know, darling, but I’ll be there the whole time, I promise. I won’t let you fall. And if you don’t like it, we can leave and do something else.”

Virgil quickly gave in to Roman’s soft, hopeful look. “I guess it  _ could _ be fun,” he grumbled.

Roman beamed and pressed a kiss to his hand. “It will be, I promise!”

They chatted aimlessly as Roman drove until he pulled into a parking garage near the seasonal ice rink downtown. Virgil let Roman help him out of the car, as always, but declined to hold his hand as they walked through the public streets to the ice rink, nervous energy coursing through his veins.

He carefully scanned the faces they passed and the faces contained in the rink, looking for anyone from their school. The rink was somehow both more crowded and less crowded than Virgil expected it to be on Christmas Day; he had expected it to either be entirely full or near-empty. At most, there were a couple dozen people on the ice, but no one that they would have known.

He subtly, carefully linked his pinkie with Roman’s.

Roman insisted on paying for their skate rentals. They sat together and laced them up, Virgil doing his best to mimic what Roman was doing. And then Virgil tried to stand up and instantly toppled back onto the bench.

“Oh shit,” he said, barely catching himself from falling backwards off the seat.

Roman grabbed his arm to steady him and leaned over to poke and tug at his laces. “Good thing you fell now instead of out there,” he said, brow furrowing. “These aren’t nearly tight enough. You could snap those twig ankles of yours.”

Virgil’s eyes widened. “Okay let’s go home.”

“Hey, breathe, darling,” Roman said, kneeling down to retie Virgil’s skates. “At least give it a try? I won’t let you fall again.” He stood and held out a hand to help Virgil up. “I promise.”

Virgil grumbled, but allowed Roman to pull him up and guide him carefully onto the ice. His legs wobbled and he had to grip both of Roman’s hands as tightly as possible just to keep his legs under him. Roman just smiled at him, skating backwards with ease.

“This shouldn’t be so hard,” Virgil grumbled. “I’m only standing on knives on top of a thin sheet of ice.”

Roman chuckled. “Come on, haven’t you ever been rollerblading?”

Virgil looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. “Do I  _ look _ like a person that goes rollerblading? Or even roller _ skating _ ?”

Roman chuckled again, giving him a not-so-subtle once-over. “I suppose not. Just follow my lead, okay?”

Roman moved so they were both skating forward next to each other, and Virgil had to grab his arm with both hands to keep from falling. He did his best to mimic Roman’s movements, but he was still struggling.

“I’m ready for a break, I think,” Virgil said eventually.

“You doing alright?” Roman asked, voice high with concern and eyebrows pinched together as he guided them toward a wall.

Virgil gave Roman a genuine half-smile, dropping it anxiously when a group of people skated past. Roman lifted his hand to kiss him on his knuckles.

“You don’t need to hide your smile, dear heart.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow, but allowed the barest of smiles anyway. “We’re in public, Princey, You’re lucky I let you kiss my hand.”

Roman smiled. “And thus I will respect your discomfort for PDA.”

Virgil shook his head fondly. “Go on a few rounds without me, have some fun.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll join you again in a bit.”

“Alright, darling.” Roman winked. “Enjoy the show.”

Virgil smirked as he watched Roman skate off, gaining speed. Virgil pulled out his phone and recorded a video as Roman did a few fancy spins. He winked at Virgil once more as he skated past him.

“Showoff,” Virgil grumbled, stopping the video.

He took a few more pictures of Roman skating before shoving his phone back in his pocket to hold out his hand as Roman approached. Roman (thankfully) slowed down before whisking Virgil back onto the rink. They skated around for a while, Virgil slowly getting the hang of it until he could do a full rotation around the rink without holding on to Roman.

They had been at the rink for a few hours, watching families and couples come and go, freezing their butts off, when Roman finally started guiding them to the exit of the rink.

“Come on,” he said. “Obligatory selfie time and then it’s time to get  _ food _ .”

Virgil snorted. “Always thinking about your stomach.”

Roman grinned at him. “Honestly I was gonna take you out for a nice meal, but I’m exhausted and just want some garbage fast food,” he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

Virgil gave a small smile as Roman adjusted them to both have good lighting and have the rink behind them. “Sounds good to me, I wanna eat and then  _ sleep _ .”

Roman squeezed his hand with a softer smile before grinning enthusiastically at the camera. Virgil turned toward the phone and gave in an unimpressed look, raising an eyebrow, still not willing to grant Roman’s instagram with a smile. Roman snapped a few pictures before tucking it back in his pocket.

“Also, if you’re not gonna post that video of me skating, I will.”

Virgil rolled his eyes, fighting down a grin. “You’re halfway to being an instagram influencer at this point,” he teased as he wobbled off the ice and onto a bench.

Roman laughed bitterly. “Hey, at least I’ve got something lined up for after all of this, then, right?” Before Virgil could question him, he turned his bitter smile into something full of painfully false cheer. “But! It’s happy Christmas date time, so we can talk about that another time.”

“Ro--” Virgil murmured.

Roman’s false smile became even weaker. “Please, Virgil?”

Virgil mustered up all his courage to lean over and kiss Roman on his cheek. “Okay,” he whispered. Then, filled his own voice with false humor, trying to lighten the mood again, “Just don’t become one of  _ those _ Instagram influencers, alright?”

Roman chuckled, the sound seeming less forced than his smile. “If I do, you have full permission to delete all my social media and lock me in a bunker.”

“Deal.”

They switched back into their own footwear and turned in their skates, then began the walk back to the parking garage. Once there, Roman helped him into the car and settled into the driver’s seat himself, and they locked their hands together atop the center console.

With his free hand, Virgil dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone to start putting together an Instagram post. He chose a couple of the best pictures of Roman skating and the video, tagged Roman in the pictures, and captioned it simply “ _ showoff _ .”

“Oh my gosh,” Virgil said, putting his phone down.

Roman looked over alarmed. “What?”

“You’ve made me into your influencer boyfriend, you sneaky bastard.”

Roman threw back his head and laughed as he pulled into the drive thru of the nearest fast food joint, barely being able to stop laughing enough to order them some food. 

Meal acquired, they drove back to the Beste’s in much higher spirits than they were when they came off the ice. Once there, Roman chose a random movie off Netflix and they curled up together on the couch to eat, simply grabbing food out of the greasy bag set across their laps like animals. When they finished, Roman leaned himself up against the armrest of the couch and invited Virgil to curl up against his chest.

This time, Roman fell asleep first, his soft snores drawing Virgil’s attention away from the movie that he wasn’t really even watching, anyway. He caressed Roman’s face lightly with his fingers, admiring the way his features relaxed in his sleep.

“I think I might be falling in love with you,” he whispered. “And that terrifies me.”

And then Virgil relaxed against Roman’s chest and let the movie draw him into sleep, as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey, thanks for reading! You'll actually be getting the next chapter within the next hour or two, and then we'll go back to our "every other week" schedule! Thank you again for being patient with me, guys!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The tags might need to be updated, idk, but hopefully they're good for now lol, I'll look through them when I get the chance lol. Once again, sorry these are so late, guys! I am 100% gonna do my best not to do this again, but I got far too many projects running for my own good because I always forget my limits lol. I'm gonna try to balance my time and energy better between them, though.
> 
> Also, I find it funny that I made filler chapters so that the Christmas and New Years chaps would be posted near those holidays and then I burnt out and they weren't, anyway, lol. Go me, lol.
> 
> In any case, enjoy!

The next week consisted of spending a lot of time at the Boman’s, chilling (or working) at the Insomniac, and hanging out in Roman’s car. Virgil didn’t like spending much time at the Beste’s if he could help it, even without them home. He just couldn’t relax, there.

It wasn’t until the 29th that Maisey reminded him of what holiday was coming up.

“So,” she said as she prepared a drink, pink button glinting in the light of the cafe, “you’re coming to the New Years Eve party again this year, right?”

Roman perked up from where he’d been leaning over the counter to watch Virgil work, looking embarrassingly smitten. “Party?”

Virgil sighed and passed Nicholas a mug over the counter. “In all honesty Mai, I forgot.”

Maisey looked at him in shock. “How did you  _ forget _ ? It’s the only party a year you’ll actually go to!”

Virgil felt his face grow warm and found himself thankful for the existence of full-coverage makeup. “I’ve been a little  _ busy _ lately!”

Maisey smirked. “Busy snogging?”

Virgil turned on the sink behind the counter and used it to splash Maisey until she shrieked at the cold and lunged at him to turn it off.

“We haven’t even  _ kissed _ ,” Virgil hissed, quietly enough that he hoped Roman wouldn’t catch it. Then, louder, “And who the fuck says  _ snogging _ around here?”

“So what I’m hearing, is,” Roman said, leaning further over the counter and ignoring the entire interaction, “there’s a  _ party _ .”

Maisey turned and mimicked his position against the counter. “Every year, my grandpa lets me throw a New Years Eve party. Friends, coworkers, and older patrons of the Insomniac are all invited. We set off illegal fireworks and everything, it’s awesome. You and Patton can come, if you want.”

“I’ll have to check with Pat about his plans, but I am  _ definitely _ in.”

And that’s how Virgil found himself wondering and worrying about a whole new thing for two days straight.

Would Roman, the hopeless romantic he was, want to kiss Virgil as the clock struck midnight? And as much as Virgil wanted to kiss him, was he ready for that?

“What’s holding you back?” Logan asked as they got ready for the party at his house.

Virgil paused in applying his makeup. “I… don’t know. I just don’t know if I’m ready.”

Logan turned around, making Virgil stare uncomfortably at his face of flat foundation. “Why?”

“I -- I don’t --”

“Do you trust him?”

“I --  _ yeah _ , after all this time, of course.”

“Then what’s stopping you?”

Virgil didn’t know how to answer. So he didn’t. He just kept doing his makeup in silence. Whether he ended up kissing Roman or not, he was going to look good doing it.

A few hours later, Roman picked them up, Patton already in the car, and they all drove to the Armel’s together. Based on the small number of cars surrounding the house, they were some of the first people there. Which, it made sense, considering it was barely six in the afternoon and the party didn’t start until later that night.

“You two head inside,” Roman said to the two in the backseat. “I wanna talk to Virgil for a sec.”

A flash of intense anxiety sparked in Virgil’s chest and he sent a panicked look to Logan through the passenger side window. Logan mimed taking a deep breath and left Virgil there with Roman to escort Patton inside the house.

“Sorry,” Roman said sheepishly, and Virgil turned to face him so quickly that he heard his neck crack. “I guess the way I said that was not the best for someone with anxiety.”

“Is something wrong?” Virgil asked.

Roman’s eyes went wide and he reached over to grab Virgil’s hands. “No! No, nothing’s wrong, darling.”

Virgil relaxed, but not by much. “Then what is it?”

Roman began to look almost as nervous as Virgil felt. “Well, I just wanted to ask you something. You, uh, probably know of a certain  _ tradition _ for couples when the clock strikes midnight, tonight…” Roman trailed off.

Virgil took one of his hands back and used both of his to fidget with the fingers on one of Roman’s, biting his lip. “Yeah,” Virgil said quietly. “I’ve been thinking about it, too.”

Roman looked up at him hopefully. “Yeah?” He whispered.

Virgil scrunched up his face anxiously. “I… don’t know. I don’t know.” He shook his head.

Roman gave him a gentle smile and squeezed his hands. “That’s okay, deart heart. Nothing has to happen.”

Virgil couldn’t help but feel guilty, like he’d disappointed Roman somehow. He looked away.

Roman pulled his face back toward him with a gentle hand under his chin. He gave Virgil a serious look.

“I know that look in your eyes. Virgil, I am  _ not _ upset or disappointed. Relationships are a two-way street. If you’re not ready, then you’re not ready. It’s important to me that we’re on the same page, both comfortable and happy. That’s why I  _ asked _ .”

Virgil felt one corner of his mouth tick up in a tentative smile. “Stop being so good at being in a relationship. I’m gonna fall behind on ‘good boyfriend’ points.”

Roman laughed, the sound dropping all the tension from both of their shoulders. Roman leaned in a pecked the tip of Virgil’s nose, making him let out a surprised little laugh himself (more of a giggle, but Virgil would never admit it).

“Impossible,” Roman said. “You’re the best damn boyfriend in the world.”

Virgil grinned and leaned in to kiss Roman’s cheek. “Come on, let’s go in. They’ll start to wonder what nefarious things we’re getting up to.”

Roman grinned and followed Virgil as he pulled back, leaning over the center console. “I can think of a few things.”

Virgil laughed and planted a hand on Virgil’s face to push him away. “Hurry up before I get out of the car by myself.”

Roman scrambled out of the car, causing Virgil to laugh again, and helped him out of it with a dramatic flourish. They walked up to the house and through the front door, hand in hand.

But then Virgil had to drop Roman’s hand to catch a flying Maisey in his arms, who wrapped around him like a koala.

“He/him,” Maisey said, voice muffled by Virgil’s shoulder, before either of them could even ask.

“Maze,” Virgil grunted, “you may be small, but I am going to fall over if you don’t get off me.”

Roman placed a steadying hand on his back as Maisey chuckled and freed Virgil, climbing off of him. He offered a high-five to Roman before stepping away to let them walk further into the house.

“Billy and Jason are making dinner,” he said, leading them to the kitchen. “I didn’t ask them to, they just showed up and commandeered my kitchen.”

“Sounds about right,” Virgil said. “They just showed up in my life and commandeered my fashion choices for a night, after all.”

Roman laughed and bumped their shoulders together. “And they did a  _ wonderful _ job, my dear.”

Virgil hoped his makeup hid the pleased flush that he was certain had spread across his face. “Shut up.”

Bill turned toward them as they entered the kitchen and broke into a bright grin. He pulled Virgil into a giant bear hug, and Virgil let it happen (he might’ve even hugged back, but that wasn’t important). Jason came up after Bill released him and squeezed the muscles between his neck and shoulder with a fond smile.

Mr. Armel strode into the kitchen, a wide smile on his face, and greeted them as well. Bill and Jason went back to cooking, with Patton following from who knows where to hover and watch them.

Roman tossed an arm over Virgil’s shoulders. “Your friends are way more fun than mine.” He paused and cocked his head, then grinned. “Aside from Patton, of course.”

Virgil scoffed. “What do they even do for fun? Take candy from babies?”

Roman snorted. “Might as well.”

Virgil leaned into him, looking toward him to place a subtle kiss on his jaw. “You and Patton have us, now.”

Roman grinned down at him. “That we do.”

It didn’t take long before the two of them were enlisted to help grab plates and utensils. The table was too small, so the group gathered in the living room across the couches. The food, of course, was amazing. Virgil had expected nothing less, Considering who made it .

“Alright,” Maisey said as they finished eating and the idle chatter died down. “So the rest of the guests should be arriving around eight, or nine, since everyone’s always late. We’ve got an hour or so to make sure everything’s set.”

Virgil turned to Logan as he started rattling off the list he'd had memorized for years.

“Video games.”

“Check,” Maisey said.

“Snacks.”

“Check.”

“ _ Non-alcoholic _ beverages.”

“Check.”

“Illegal fireworks.”

“Check.”

Logan went through numerous other items on the list, but Virgil tuned him out to look around at the people that surrounded him.

Logan and Patton had  _ somehow _ ended up sharing an oversized recliner (and if they didn’t get together soon, Virgil was going to lose it), Patton watching Logan with the biggest heart-eyes Virgil had ever seen as the nerd prattled on.

Bill and Jason sat on the couch, Jason’s arm around Bill’s shoulders and their fingers interlaced. Maisey sat next to them, practically in Bill’s lap, and it warmed Virgil’s heart to know that he found such an amazing QPP, and with an amazing husband to wholly support their relationship.

Mr. Armel sat in his usual old armchair, and Virgil spared a thought to the fact that he’d never seen Mr. Armel sit anywhere else in the Armel’s living room,  _ ever _ . They met eyes and Virgil knew they were going through the same process, watching their family, and they shared a smile.

Then Virgil looked up at Roman, sharing the loveseat with him. He must have sensed Virgil’s eyes on him, because he looked down and gave Virgil a soft smile. Roman brushed their noses together gently before turning back to the conversation and Virgil curled even further into him.

The rest of the time before Maisey’s guests arrived, he put them to work. They helped hang last-minute decorations while Bill and Jason cleaned up their cooking mess (after insisting for ten minutes that they cleaned it instead of someone else taking the responsibility).

Roman, the entire time, tried to distract Virgil with flirting, as was usual for them, now. Whether they were across the room from each other or next to each other and working on the same task, Roman found some way to try and get under Virgil’s skin.

“You are  _ insufferable _ ,” Virgil muttered fondly as Roman pulled him down onto the couch and practically glomped onto him.

“Yeah?” Roman said, burying his nose into Virgil’s neck. “Well, you’re unfairly cute and I’m feeling affectionate, so deal with it.”

Virgil smiled. He wrapped his arms around Roman and tossed his legs over Roman’s lap so that they were just one big tangle of limbs. He closed his eyes and basked in the moment, nearly dozing off until the front door swung open.

“What’s up, gays?” Morgan’s distinct voice shouted. “The party has arrived!”

Virgil peeled his eyes open and glanced over. Morgan, Esperanza, and a few of the other older regulars had all arrived in a large group together. Virgil relaxed back into the couch and into Roman. Those kids saw him make a fool out of himself almost every day, he didn’t quite mind if they saw him cuddling with his boyfriend.

When his fellow baristas started trickling in, though, he pulled back some. He moved so that he and Roman were simply sitting next to each other on the couch, sides and legs pressed together. Roman respected his boundaries and didn’t try to initiate more contact as they got pulled into awkward small talk with the coworkers he rarely saw.

Eventually, Logan and Patton joined them again from wherever they’d vanished off to (and Virgil was suspicious for a moment before he realized they were still giving each other the secret “unrequited” side glances). The four of them were able to create their own little bubble of conversation and escape the uncomfortable small talk.

“What do you  _ mean _ you haven’t seen  _ Tangled _ ?”

Virgil and Logan both shrugged.

“I just don’t have time or ability to watch a lot of stuff,” Virgil said.

“I barely have time to read for fun during  _ holidays _ ,” Logan said. “And certainly not while school is in session. There’s simply not enough time for such frivolous activities, there’s studying and work to be done.”

Patton pouted. “You two really need to let yourselves relax more.”

Roman furrowed his brow, then grinned in a way that made Virgil immediately and fondly suspicious. “I declare a Disney marathon! Preferably multiple, but at least one. And  _ soon _ .”

Virgil shrugged. “As long as we’re careful and don’t leave a trace, the Beste’s won’t be back for a few more days. They usually don’t get back until two-ish days until school starts back up.”

Roman’s grin brightened. “It’s decided! Movie night is a go!”

At that moment, Maisey rushed past them, wild grin on his face. He ran to the back door and shouted, “Time to be criminals!”

People started flooding out from every room in the house, racing outside. Virgil smirked and stood, pulling Roman to his feet as well. Roman’s eyes lit up.

“Illegal fireworks?” He asked giddily.

“Illegal fireworks,” Virgil replied.

“But it’s not midnight,” Patton said, standing and pulling Logan to his feet to follow them out.

Maisey sidled up to them. “We start them leading up to midnight because we’re really slow at it. And until midnight we put smaller, legal fireworks in-between.”

Patton looked around conspiratorially, then whispered, “What if someone calls the police?”

Logan shrugged. “No one has, yet.”

“Plus,” Morgan said, rushing past, “who’s not gonna lie to the cops to have some harmless fun?”

“We always warn the neighbors, too,” Maisey said. “I’m not heartless.”

Roman cocked his head. “What about the people who don’t like fireworks?”

“Do you not like them?” Maisey asked, freezing in place. “We have earbuds and noise-cancelling headphones you can pair together. And you can stay inside.”

Roman shook his head and wrapped an arm around Virgil’s shoulders. “Nah, I was just worried cuz I know sometimes things are rough for some of these kids.”

Virgil smiled and leaned into Roman as they made their way outside. He made a beeline to stand near the firepit to keep warm, which no one complained about. It was far too cold out, otherwise, even with his new winter coat and sharing body heat with Roman (and even Logan, when he sidled up on Virgil’s other side to keep warm, Patton sidling up on Logan’s other side).

Mr. Armel and Jason took charge of the fireworks. They started with a few small (legal) ones, then did a few of the bigger (illegal) ones (which took longer to set up and always had Virgil instinctively cowered after they were set off, afraid the embers would fall on him from the sky). Considering it had barely been eleven by the time they went outside, Virgil was left wondering just how much money they spent on fireworks every year.

And where they got the real ones, considering they weren’t legal to buy, sell, or set off where they lived.

As midnight approached, sparklers were handed out. Virgil stared at it in his hand, looking at Roman through the corner of his eye. His eyes flickered over to where Mr. Armel and Jason were setting up the fireworks for the finale. He hadn’t made a decision.

“Here it comes!” Maisey called.

Virgil took a deep breath.

“Ten!”

He had ten seconds to make a decision. A decision that was a very big deal. A decision that would probably change things.

“Nine!”

Was Virgil just overthinking all of this? Virgil  _ wanted _ to kiss Roman, didn’t he? He’d certainly thought about it in the past, and those thoughts had definitely been increasing lately. Not to mention that he’s almost  _ done _ it a few times without even thinking about it.

“Eight!”

And they had almost kissed already, that first night at the dance. It was insane that it hadn’t even been a month since then. They’d come so far. Virgil felt like he’d lived months and months since that night.

“Seven!”

Why  _ did _ this scare Virgil so much? Shouldn’t he be happy at the thought of kissing his amazing boyfriend? He certainly wanted Roman to be happy about it.

“Six!”

And it did make him happy. It made him so happy. But Virgil was  _ so _ bad with change and with settling into new things, and despite everything else, kissing Roman felt like it would solidify this relationship more than anything else. Give Roman even more power over him, to hurt him.

“Five!”

But Roman hadn’t hurt him, yet. He had been so patient with him, let Virgil take everything at  _ his own _ pace. Slowed down when he needed to, sped up when Virgil sped up. Just like when they were ice skating last week.

“Four!”

He was the sweetest person Virgil had ever met (well, maybe aside from Patton). Virgil felt so  _ safe _ with him. It was like he’d known Roman for his whole life already, even though they’d only been talking for barely four or so months.

“Three!”

And really, Virgil knew his anxiety got the better of him far too often. He knew he let it control him far more than he should. It almost stopped him from  _ being _ with Roman… Was it going to stop him from having the relationship they  _ both _ wanted?

“Two!”

No. No, it wasn’t. Virgil would not  _ let _ it.

“One!”

Virgil looked up at Roman. Roman’s eyes were on the fireworks, preparing to shoot into the sky. He grabbed the lapels of Roman’s coat, startling them both.

“ _ Happy New Year _ !!”

Virgil pulled Roman into him, pressing their lips together, squeezing his eyes shut. Roman made a surprised sound, but he quickly recovered, wrapping his arms around Virgil and tugging him even closer. He tilted his head and softened the kiss and Virgil relaxed against him, making a small sound in the back of his throat. The fireworks boomed above their heads, lights flashing against their eyelids, but neither of them paid any mind.

They slowly pulled away and met each other’s eyes. Roman grinned, bright and toothy, and Virgil couldn’t help but match it.

“Hey,” Roman murmured, barely audible over the explosions.

Virgil couldn’t help the giddy giggle that escaped his lips. “Hey,” he replied quietly.

“Can I kiss you again?”

Instead of responding, Virgil wrapped his arms around Roman’s neck and pulled him in for another kiss. The world moved on around them, but they only needed each other in that moment. They were all that mattered. They pulled back a second time.

“Best first and second kisses ever,” Virgil teased.

Roman laughed and pulled him into a near-suffocating hug. Virgil hugged back just as tightly, tilting his head up to watch the last of the fireworks. He really didn’t have anything he needed to be afraid of.

Not while he had Roman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, guys! Next update will be on 4/18/2020, so I will see you all then! Leave a comment or kudos, if you'd like, and come yell at me on tumblr at sociallyawkward--fics!


	10. Author's Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is not a chapter, this is an authors note

Hey! Just thought you all deserved an update since I've missed like, three uploads lol

At this current moment, I have no motivation to work on this story. I'm going through some rough times, both irl and how I'm feeling about certain things here, and thinking about how I need to update this ends up bringing me so much stress that I can't even write for this fic anymore. I'm kind of notorious at this point for leaving chaptered fics for months (or even a year+) on end without updating because of this sort of thing, at this point, huh?

Either way, I do not intend to abandon this work. Very slowly, I will write out chapters as I work on fics that I'm actually excited about. I'll build up enough chapters -- maybe even write to the end of the fic -- before I start posting them again, because right now I just need a break, both from this fic and from Sanders Sides in general. I'm working out some emotions there, right now, and I'm taking a massive break from the fandom culture surrounding it, because I feel like that's almost hurt me in my enjoyment of the series, now. 

It didn't used to, I used to love being in the Sanders Sides fandom, but I think it got to the point where, even though I wasn't enjoying the fandom's culture anymore, I stuck around because it was familiar and I didn't know any better or anything else, and because I couldn't see myself getting more and more stressed and affected by the fandom, it's hurt my enjoyment of the series as a whole. So I'm taking a break. Cutting all Sanders Sides fandom stuff except the stuff that I _really_ love out for right now, giving myself a break, and coming back to it later when I feel like I'm ready to re-explore my emotions.

But even if I never come back to the Sanders Sides fandom in the end, I'm not going to leave this fic unfinished forever. I hate the idea of abandoning and not finishing an already-posted work, and I've known how this fic was going to play out and end since like 2018. I just need some time off without stressing about it before we get there lol. Thanks for understanding, y'all!

I honestly probably didn't word this great because I'm writing it in the middle of a minor mental breakdown, but hopefully I got my point across lol. See y'all when I see you! And if you're a Witcher fan, look out for a bunch of stuff coming that way from me, soon!

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo, thanks for reading! Give me your thoughts on this chapter! Visit me on tumblr (sociallyawkward--fics)! 
> 
> See y'all on the 21st!


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